


Dragon's Heart

by XxScarletMaidenxX



Category: One Piece
Genre: ASL Brothers, Buggy The Clown - Freeform, F/M, Haki (One Piece), Love, Luffy's Biggest Fan, Luffy's mother - Freeform, Original Character(s), Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Queen of the Pirates, Shirohige Kaizoku-dan | Whitebeard Pirates, red haired shanks - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:48:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 40,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22388941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XxScarletMaidenxX/pseuds/XxScarletMaidenxX
Summary: [Preview]“If you can give me one good reason, I’ll turn myself in to you and allow you to arrest me with no fuss.” She closed her eyes as she lounged in the scalding water, “I’ll give you a minute.”Was she just stalling for time? “You’re a pirate.” I answered dryly.“Not good enough.” She giggled, “What’s wrong with gathering a bunch of friends, painting yourselves a flag and exploring all that the sea has to offer? What laws have I broken?”There was an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Was it possible she hadn’t broken any laws?  Why was she wanted?“I’m waiting.”“And if I don’t have an answer?” I asked her seriously causing her to sit upright and look at me with those bright summery green eyes.“Be careful how you answer my next question. It could very well change your life.” She warned me with a smile, “Can you in good conscience, arrest me without reasonable cause?”What did she mean by that? I sighed and ran my hands through my untamable dark hair as I pondered her words. “No.”“Alright, then I’ve decided.” She beamed.“Decided what?”“I’ll marry you.” She grinned.
Relationships: Monkey D. Dragon/Original Character(s)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 167





	1. Chapter 1

Monkey D Dragon Age: 20

Youko D Lily Age:18

~ Dragon’s POV~

I’d never fallen under the false impression of the world being a safe place full of good people, like many others. However, I had believed in the falsity that there was one good that prevailed against all the evil of the world, the justice my father had always preached to me as a boy, the navy. The navy was where young men and women with good hearts and the desire to serve and protect the innocents of the world joined forces against all the evils. All it took, was one sassy pirate, to lift the wool from my eyes.

“A witness said they saw her disappear in there.” My commanding officer, a tall elderly man who was overdue for retirement, jerked his thumb in the direction of an extravagant looking bathhouse. “Orders from on high are to bring her back alive, at all costs.” His beady eyes scanned over our small group looking for a volunteer. “Don’t make me go after her my own damn self!” He barked.

“No offense, captain, but you should really sit this one out, we don’t need you seeing a bunch of naked ladies and having yourself a heart attack from all the excitement.” One of the other grunts laughed.

“I’ll go.” I sighed, not really wanting to deal with a hysterical woman, but no one else in the crew would be mature enough. Women were like an entirely different species that I didn’t care to know more about from my very brief experiences.

My captain clapped me on the back with a beaming grin, “Go make your old man proud.”

Shrugging off his words, I headed to the bathhouse resisting the urge to groan. I stopped a few people in the hall and showed them the wanted poster asking if anyone had seen her. After getting slapped by three young ladies, scolded by two elderly women and ignored by four others, some middle-aged woman was nice enough to tell me my target was seen heading toward a VIP bath.

The sickening smell of floral shampoos, body washes and incense threatened to choke me as I made my way down the hall cringing every time a girl screamed. Women were such a nuisance. After I’d gone a little way down the hall I noticed it was starting to get much quieter. The VIP baths were far enough away from the public baths that I couldn’t hear all the obnoxious blabber and gossip.

I paused as I heard the sound of water splashing to a tiled floor from the first VIP bath on the left side of the hall. Before I could knock at the door, a soft melodic voice called out to me.

“Have you come to arrest me, Monkey D Dragon?” How the hell did she know my name and how could she possibly have known I was the one who had come here to arrest her?

Hesitantly I stepped into the room and felt my face grow hot as I spotted her sitting, naked, on a stool with her back to me, washing her lithe body. Hurriedly I averted my gaze before scolding myself, I couldn’t take my eyes off her and let her escape. As I drew my gaze back to her, I noticed a few small pools of blood on the floor from where I was standing leading to where she was currently sitting, was she injured?

“Shy?” Her beautiful lilting laugh echoed through the pristine bath. She cast me a sideways glance over her shoulder and I found myself mesmerized by a pair of bright green eyes with swirls of gold, reminding me of a sea of tall grass on a hot summer’s day billowing about in a warm breeze.

“You’re a wanted criminal.” I piped up finally regaining my nerve as I forced myself to meet her gaze, I would not allow myself to succumb to her feminine wiles.

“So, I am.” She smiled coyly before turning back around and resuming her task. “Do you know what I’m wanted for?” Those summery green eyes flit in my direction for the briefest of moments, she was gauging me for some kind of reaction, I gave her none.

“You tell me.” In truth, I had no idea what she had done. She was a pirate and from the rumors on the sea, many were calling her the Queen of the Pirates. Though most pirates had a rap sheet of terrible things they’d done, thieving, pillaging, plundering, murder, I hadn’t heard of her doing anything of the sort.

“Oh?” She laughed softly, “Such a good lapdog you are, you don’t even ask questions.”

“You’re under arrest, Youko D Lily.” I wouldn’t let her shake me.

“So, arrest me.” She shrugged her slender shoulders. “Fall in line like the obedient sheep you are.” She looked back at me curiously tilting her head to the side as she pondered for a moment, “Is that, right?” Her long silken ebony hair spilled over her shoulders as she turned partially to face me and I caught a brief glimpse of something dark staining her milk and honey skin between her shoulder blades, I couldn’t quite make it out, her hair was in the way.

“What?” I stared at her blankly as she continued giving me that questioning look.

“Sheep are herd animals, right?” She asked seriously.

“Yes.” What the hell was even happening right now?

“Then it applies.” She shrugged, “I guess I’d make a terrible farmer.”

“Come on.” I barked at her, losing my patience, this girl unnerved me.

“You could at least let me finish my bath.” She sighed as she leaned forward slightly to pick up a bucket of clean warm water before dumping it over top of her head, rinsing the soap, from her scrubbing, away from her body.

My gaze lingered to her back as her hair shifted slightly, the mark looked like a brand but I still couldn’t get a good look. She reached back and pulled her hair to one side ringing it out and I felt my stomach churn unpleasantly as I spotted a very familiar symbol burned into her back. She’d been a slave once, to a Tenryubito. My heart was pounding and I could hear the blood rushing to my head, why was she a wanted criminal? Wasn’t she a victim?

“Dragon?” Her summery green eyes were filled with concern, no, maybe this was a trap.

“Finish up quickly. I’m not leaving so you can escape when I’m not looking.” I snapped coolly as I tried to think of all the possibilities. Things weren’t adding up. I had to be missing something, there must have been something I overlooked in her rap sheet.

She gracefully got to her feet and I tore my gaze away from her lithe body trying not to focus on every water droplet clinging to her perfect milk and honey skin. Her fingers worked through her silken hair tying it into a dripping wet braid with ease and letting it hang over her shoulder. I forced myself to meet her gaze as she turned to face me refusing to look at her perfectly sculpted body. This girl had absolutely no shame.

“Did you grow up on a farm?” She asked me out of the blue.

“What?!” I stared at her worried for her sanity and praying her lunacy wasn’t contagious.

“You knew sheep were herding animals.” She shrugged as if it were obvious, “So did you grow up on a farm?”

“No.” I noticed blood oozing from beneath her braided hair streaking down her lithe torso. “You’re bleeding.”

“Tell me about where you grew up.” She smiled, ignoring the blood now dripping down to her hips.

“Are you mental?!” I growled as I stalked toward her finally losing my patience.

Her bright golden flecked green eyes widened for a moment as I roughly grabbed her by the arm and dragged her toward me, sweeping her braid to the side as I did so. My heart dropped, there was a deep gash just beneath her collar bone, it looked as if she’d been stabbed.

“W-what happened?”

“You won’t believe me if I tell you.” Her eyes dulled, her exuberant infectious smile had vanished.

“What the hell does that mean?” I glowered down at her, she was shorter than I’d imagined her to be, the top of her head reaching just below my collar bone.

“Sheep don’t ask questions or think for themselves.” She shrugged and twisted her hand out of my grip before sauntering over to the large marble bath filled with steaming hot vitamin and mineral enriched water.

“I’m not a sheep.” I growled, this girl was infuriating.

“No?” She stepped into the steaming water, her back to me once more. Her body tensed for a moment and she childishly dove the rest of the way into the tub creating a big splash, sending hot water everywhere. This girl was a head case. She surfaced with a beautiful melodic giggle and looked to me with a sly smile, “If you’re not a sheep, why are you arresting me?”

I watched her curiously as she floated on her back in the scalding hot water not caring that her milk and honey flesh was now scorched red from the heat. What was she getting at?

“If you can give me one good reason, I’ll turn myself in to you and allow you to arrest me with no fuss.” She closed her eyes as she lounged in the scalding water, “I’ll give you a minute.”

Was she just stalling for time? “You’re a pirate.” I answered dryly.

“Not good enough.” She giggled, “What’s wrong with gathering a bunch of friends, painting yourselves a flag and exploring all that the sea has to offer? What laws have I broken?”

There was an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Was it possible she hadn’t broken any laws? Why was she wanted?

“I’m waiting.”

“And if I don’t have an answer?” I asked her seriously causing her to sit upright and look at me with those bright summery green eyes.

“Be careful how you answer my next question. It could very well change your life.” She warned me with a smile, “Can you in good conscience, arrest me without reasonable cause?”

What did she mean by that? I sighed and ran my hands through my untamable dark hair as I pondered her words. “No.”

“Alright, then I’ve decided.” She beamed.

“Decided what?”

“I’ll marry you.” She grinned.

“What?! I wasn’t asking you!” I snapped at her, “Don’t just decide things for other people!” 

Her melodic laughter filled the room and she nearly drowned herself as she slipped beneath the water cackling like a loon. “You’re funny.” She giggled as she surfaced and my gaze was once more transfixed on the blood oozing from her chest.

“You should bandage that.” I sighed as I threw a towel in her direction as she gracefully rose from the bath.

She caught the towel and wrapped it around her lean torso before turning to face me, “So where do we go from here?”

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” I indicated the blood now staining the white towel from her wound.

“A marine.” Her bright eyes watched me curiously gauging me for a reaction as she opened her mouth to continue but she cut off with a frown and looked to the sliding doors that opened out onto a private garden complete with a small koi pond.

I followed her gaze and froze as I spotted two teenage boys appearing to be a few years her junior. One had brilliant red hair, the other had a big red nose and bright teal hair, they looked to the towel clad girl with wide eyes their faces flushing scarlet.

“L-Lily!” The red-head exclaimed while politely averting his gaze, “Captain said you were in trouble.” He held up a small withering piece of paper, a vivre card.

Her bright eyes flicked in my direction, “You’re not arresting me, are you?”

I shook my head, “No. Not that I think it would do any good anyway.”

“Then I don’t think I’m in any trouble.” She giggled as she turned to the two teenagers, “Thanks for coming to my rescue though.”

The two teenage boys threw me wary looks before the crimson haired teen extended his hand to the girl, “You’re bleeding. Come with us, Lily.”

“Was that you’re doing?!” The teal haired teen with the big red nose barked at me reaching for the cutlass at his hip.

“Play nice with my fiancé boys.” Lily giggled softly waving them all off as she sauntered across the room to where a changing screen littered with intricately hand painted sakura blossoms on it stood. Once she was concealed behind the screen the now blood-stained towel was draped over the top leaving the three of us standing in an awkwardly tense stare down as she changed.

Wait. Did she say fiancé? “Hey! Don’t decide things for yourself!” I snapped at her.

“Fiancé?!” The two teens gaped.

“What the hell?!” I glared at her as she stepped out from behind the screen in a simple revealing silken slip in a deep emerald green with a long black silken robe with intricate gold and green floral print thrown over top. The silken material molded sinfully to her voluptuous frame sticking to her damp skin. “Who said we were getting married?” I forced myself to look away from her as my cheeks began to redden.

“I saw it.” She said simply as if that put it all to rest. Her summery gaze flit in the direction of the two teens before returning to me, “Until we meet again, I mustn’t keep my escort waiting.”

The teens looked to the dripping wet girl curiously. “You really saw it?” Big nose stared at her in awe.

What were they going on about, “We’re not getting married!” I growled.

“If she saw it, then it’s happening.” The teens responded simultaneously.

“What?!”

“Our son will be darling.” Lily smiled as she stared off into the distance lost in some daydream.

Deciding I’d suffered long enough the crimson haired teen offered me a small smile, “Lily can see the future, and she’s never wrong.”

“I give up, you’re all mental.” I threw my hands up in defeat.

She sauntered over to me with a slow lazy smile, “Just keep asking questions. Though I’ll warn you, if you ask the right person you’ll get the answers you need, but not the answers you wanted. Seek the truth.”

I stared down at her blankly as she paused before me and threw her arms around me in a warm embrace. “I’m certain you need to be committed.”

Her bright summery eyes glanced up at me between full dark lashes, “You’ll never be alone. I’ll always stand by you.” And with that said she released me from her hold leaving me standing in a daze staring after her as she allowed the crimson haired teen to sweep her off her feet and the strange trio disappeared in the night.


	2. Chapter 2

~Dragon’s POV~

She’d been right, once I’d started asking questions instead of blindly obeying, I began to see corruption, everywhere. I’d left the marines shortly after, crushing my father’s hopes and dreams, but I couldn’t support it. It was time for a revolution, time for someone to truly stand for the people of the world. Not long after leaving, I’d made some new friends who shared my ideals.

My few companions and myself had set sail to an island we’d heard was under tyrannical government rule, the natives were being treated like slaves. We docked our ship in the middle of the night and set out to scout the island to see how bad it was and what our next course of action was going to be.

Instead of the sounds of oppression and sorrow I’d expected to hear in the night, I heard the sounds of laughter and music. Smoke dwindled up into a large black cloud in the sky occasionally concealing the moon and stars in an eerie manner. I crept closer toward the village with my second in command, a strange being I’d met in my travels who dreamed of a world where people could be who they wanted to be, whatever gender that may be and often transitioned from gender to gender with the use of a devil fruit.

“Not quite the state we’d expected to find them in.” Ivankov noted, he was male at the moment, as he’d been prepared to fight if we were intercepted by the local government. He was a stocky man with an oversized head, bright purple curls that framed his face and wore a bizarre red one piece that revealed his legs, chest, part of his midriff, and really left little to the imagination.

My heart skipped a beat as I heard a familiar melodic laugh, the laugh of the insufferable girl who I owed a large debt of gratitude to. Why was she here?

“You okay?” Ivankov looked to me curiously.

“Fine. Let’s proceed with caution.” I said stiffly as I made my way through the small forest surrounding the village. Through a break in the trees I spotted the world government’s local outpost building up in flames, the government officials sporting uniforms issued by the world government that closely resembled the marines uniform, were all sitting in the town square with their hands bound behind their backs.

The townspeople filled the streets dancing and cheering while throwing shackles onto the burning government building. In front of the massive blaze was a beautiful girl with black as night hair and summery golden flecked green eyes, eyes I’d dreamed about every night since we’d met, dancing with children. She’d turned my world upside down and had haunted me ever since.

“What do we do here?” Ivankov pondered aloud, noticing as I had, that the oppressors were now being held captive and the people were free.

“Let’s try to find out what happened.” I sighed and felt a fluttering in my chest as her summery gaze pierced through the trees and darkness I’d thought had been concealing me, latching onto me in an instant. It was unnerving.

A small sweet smile twisted onto her lips for the briefest of moments before she looked away, bashfully. This girl was going to ruin me. I stepped out of the cover of the forest and was immediately swarmed by panicked villagers.

Before anyone had a moment to act, Lily appeared before me and jumped into my arms nearly knocking me off my feet as she hooked her arms around my neck and threw all of her weight onto me. “You made it!” She giggled as if I were late to a party.

The villagers began to relax. “Is this your husband, Lily?” One of the villagers asked and I felt my face go hot.

“Stop telling people we’re married!” I snapped at her.

“Fiancé.” Lily corrected the man, “We’re not married yet.” She smiled.

“We’re not getting married!” I groaned, “You’re insufferable.”

“But we haven’t seen each other in months.” She threw me a sly smile, “Unless you’ve been dreaming about me…”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” I growled as I attempted to disentangle myself from her, but she was immovable.

“I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone.” Ivankov noted as he decided to join us.

“I’M NOT!” I roared and a strong gale wind whipped past ripping Lily off of me and shoving her back with enough force she nearly toppled over.

She stuck her tongue out at me childishly, “Sourpuss, and I did all the hard work for you, so all you’d have to do when you got here was talk with everyone and sort these morons out.” She jerked her thumb in the direction of the men sitting bound in the middle of the town square.

“You apprehended them all, single handedly?” I scoffed in disbelief.

“It does help when you can see what your opponent is going to do before they do it.” She smiled mischievously. That wasn’t it, even if she could perceive everyone’s movements, there was no way she could have taken on that many people at one time. Lily was a perplexing puzzle and as much as I tried to ignore her antics, I found myself hopelessly intrigued by her mystery. I wanted to piece her together, to figure out what made her twisted mind tick.

“Were you playing me for a fool back then, Lily?” I asked her curiously, perhaps her making me question myself was just a clever ploy for her to escape.

Her lips pursed into a frown. “Why would I do that?”

“To turn me against all I had once believed was good and just, so you could escape and torment me later-.” I paused sensing her darkening mood, I’d upset her with my distrust.

“Knowing what you know now, would you still be with them?” She asked me coolly. It was even more unsettling seeing her upset. I could deal with the manic, crazed, air-headed Lily, but this serious, icy Lily was unnerving.

“No. Forgive me, I don’t mean to be so distrusting. You just don’t seem like much of a fighter-.” Her glare pierced through me like an icy blade of malice, “Sorry, that came out wrong. I just have a hard time believing you’re capable of something like this. You don’t appear like someone who likes conflict.” I attempted to smooth things over, not sure why I was concerned with her feelings, she was sort of a nutcase.

“I may not like conflict, but sometimes it is called for.” She replied curtly, “And you of all people should know, not to judge a book by its cover.”

I’d gone and pissed her off, and for some reason this really upset me. As annoying and crazy as she was, I didn’t like seeing her upset. Tentatively I took a step forward and caught one of her delicate hands in mine, “I’m sorry.”

The moment I held her hand in mine I felt warmth spread through my core and felt my breath hitch in my throat as all of her anger washed away and a dazzling smile lit up her face.

“Lily-chan?! Help!” One of the children cried in the distance and I looked up in time to see a small party of government officials storming the town trying to regain control.

Lily vanished in the next moment, moving so fast she appeared to teleport across the town square and I stared in awe as she attacked the group of nearly ten men, without hesitation. Her movements were swift and fluid and she moved as if she knew what her opponent was going to do. It was mesmerizing, like a hypnotic dance. Everything appeared choreographed as she dodged every single one of their attacks. She struck swiftly with ease, each of her attacks hitting her mark, she didn’t fight with weapons, but there was a force behind her strikes and after a moment, I realized she was using haki, expertly.

It was like nothing I’d ever seen before. I’d seen many fighters who had mastered the art of haki, but it was nothing like this. Her haki was strong and explosive adding power to each of her strikes, sending enemies flying without even connecting her hits, like shockwaves of haki. How was she doing that?

Her summery eyes flit in my direction and she paused for a fraction of a second as her eyes met mine, but it was enough time for her remaining enemy to exploit her moment of weakness. The last man standing took advantage of her split second of distraction and caught her by the throat lifting her off the ground effortlessly. A spark of rage ignited within me, strong gale winds ripped through the town as lightning flashed in the sky above.

“RELEASE HER!” I snarled, losing myself in the heat of the moment as I envisioned those bright summery green eyes closing forever and heard her beautiful melodic laughter dwindling away to nothing in the back of my mind. As infuriating as she was, I owed her a great debt, and I liked having her around.

I darted forward as I noticed her assailant’s grip tighten around her slender neck, trying to choke the life from her. Those bright gold flecked green eyes began to dull after a moment as her oxygen supply was cut off, the sense of panic was making it difficult for her to control her haki, and her useless hits did nothing to get her opponent to release her.

“Lily!” Her name invoked something within me and a bolt of lightning hit the ground at her assailant’s feet causing him to jump, losing his hold on her. I caught her in my arms before she could hit the ground and with the help of my devil fruit ability had my opponent incapacitated in the blink of an eye.

She felt so small and fragile in my arms, like she’d break at any moment. Her bright summery eyes were wild and wide in panic, I surmised she hadn’t seen it coming or that I’d save her. “Thanks.”

“Maybe next time wait for reinforcements.” I chuckled, but refused to release her from my hold as she seemed a little unsteady.

Those bright golden flecked green eyes peered up at me through full dark lashes, ensnaring me in an instant, “You saved me.” She smiled softly.

“Don’t make this a habit.” I sighed.

Ivankov hurried over to us, “Are you two alright?”

“Fine.” I grumbled, and after seeing that Lily had regained her composure and regulated her breathing, released her from my hold causing her to fall to the ground. “Thought you could see the future.” I mused.

She shot me a playful glare, “It’s not an exact science.”

“Dragon!” Ivankov scolded me, “That’s not how you should treat a fair maiden, especially one you’re intended to.”

“We’re not getting married!” I roared in annoyance causing Lily to giggle as she accepted the hand Ivankov offered to help her up.

The two of them ignored me as they made their introductions. “Miss Lily, allow me to introduce myself I am Iv-“

“Iva-chan.” Lily supplied for him with a smile before throwing her arms around my strange companion enveloping him in a hug, “Thank you, Iva-chan, for looking after our son, in the future.” She smiled with a misty look in her eyes.

“We’re not getting married, there is no way we’re having a child.” I growled at her.

“You see the future?” Ivankov asked in wonder.

“You’re both mental.” I grumbled.


	3. Chapter 3

~Lily’s POV~

Dragon, in his denial, ended up pushing me away, again. Not everyone was as receptive to my visions. I had reservations at first when I’d seen the man my visions had shown me was going to be my husband, especially after learning he was a marine. But no matter how much I may wish for my visions to be wrong, or to change, they never do, they always happen exactly as I see them, though because I only see small glimpses they can be hard to interpret. Captain’s Roger and Whitebeard were the only ones I’d met that accepted my gift blindly and immediately.

I felt someone grip the back of my shirt roughly and squeaked as I fell backward only to be enveloped by a pair of strong arms.

“Lily-chan, for someone who can see the future, you sure don’t pay attention to your present surroundings.” A familiar masculine voice chuckled.

I blinked a few times and blanched, I’d been about to walk right off a cliff. Turning to face my rescuer, I smiled as I spotted the first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and one of my closest friends, Marco. He was one of the oldest people I’d ever met, but due to his devil fruit, didn’t look a day over twenty. “Nice save, pineapple-head.”

“Brat.” He rolled his dark blue eyes and released me from his hold. “What’s on your mind?”

“I met my husband.” I shrugged.

Marco stared at me with wide eyes, “What?! Who is he?”

“He used to be a marine.” I noted with a sigh as I resumed my mindless wandering and pacing as I thought back on every vision I’d had of Dragon and reflected on our meetings.

Marco steered me away from danger watching me with concern filled eyes. “Used to be?”

“He’s not now, and is going to be one of their most wanted in the future.” I shrugged causing Marco to chuckle.

“Lily, when you met him, you didn’t tell him all of this did you?” Marco asked curiously.

“Well I told him we were going to get married.”

Marco groaned, “Lily, you can’t do that.”

“Why not? It’s true.” I frowned.

“Regardless if it’s true or not, most people don’t like being told they’re going to do something and it’s completely out of their control.” Marco chuckled as he pulled me away from danger once more, “Can you please pay attention to where you’re going?”

“But when people find out I can see the future that’s all they ask me about.” I tilted my head to the side curiously as I pondered this.

Marco draped his arm across my shoulder, deciding it would be easier to steer me away from danger, and steered me back down the path toward the beach, “People like free will, they like to decide for themselves.”

I saw a faint vision of me appearing to be a few years older sitting alone in a cabin on a deserted island clutching at a small blue plush bundle of fabric, sobbing. It looked very lonely. Why was I alone? What was I holding and why did my heart feel like it was breaking?

“Lily?” Marco looked down at me in concern, I’d stopped moving. I jumped as I felt something splash onto my cheek and realized I was crying, “What’s wrong?” He turned me to face him, his dark blue eyes ensnaring me, “A vision?”

I nodded meekly.

“What did you see?”

“I was all alone on an uninhabited island.” I said softly, “I think it’s going to be my home.”

Marco looked to me curiously, “Why does that make you sad?”

“There wasn’t a way for me to leave.” There were no boats docked on the small island in my vision. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“Hey.” Marco pulled me into a warm embrace as I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe and my tears fell freely, “You’ll never be alone, for as long as I live, you will always have me by your side.” He gently brushed away my tears, “I promise.”

I smiled for his benefit, my visions were never wrong, it would happen, I’d be all alone on an uninhabited island, one day. Marco knew this too, but he was just trying to cheer me up. “Thanks, Marco.”

His smile was strained, he was worried about me, “Let’s go Oyaji and Rogers are going to have a go at each other, that’s always fun to watch and you know there will be a party after.”

“Okay.” I composed myself and allowed him to steer me back to the beach, sure enough Rogers and Whitebeard were locked in an epic battle, it was more frightening, than fun, to watch such strong opponents face off.

“Lily-chan!” Both crews cried upon seeing me and I couldn’t help but laugh, the Whitebeard Pirates and the Roger Pirates were like the family I never had. They all accepted me, for me.

Whitebeard and Rogers paused their attacks and turned to me, they both frowned simultaneously as they saw the remnants of tears clinging to my cheeks.

“Lily!” Two familiar voices that instantly brought a smile to my face, sounded from the other side of the beach as two boys two years my junior bounded toward me, Buggy and Shanks. Shanks had vibrant crimson hair and was sporting a straw hat with a red band around it, the same hat I saw my son wearing in visions of the future. Buggy had a big red nose and long teal hair that he kept pulled back in a neat ponytail.

I left Marco’s side and ran to hug them, “I missed you guys!”

Buggy seemed to be acting somewhat off as he gave me a stiff hug and mumbled a reply I couldn’t quite hear.

I looked to Shanks curiously, “What’s wrong with big nose?” Normally Buggy would snap about me commenting on his nose, but he seemed to have missed it.

“He’s still upset that you’re marrying someone else.” Shanks supplied with a carefree smile.

“HEY!” Buggy snapped and attempted to tackle Shanks, but he was far out classed, “SHUT UP! I NEVER SAID THAT!” His face matched his nose.

“Awh, I’m sorry Buggy.” I threw my arms around him, to keep him from embarrassing himself further as he was no match for Shanks. His face, if possible turned redder and he froze up as I hugged him, “You’ll always be my favorite big nose.”

Shanks laughed, “Lily, I think you broke him.”

“Oh no!” I panicked as Buggy collapsed to the beach once I released him from my hold causing the crews to laugh hysterically.

“A kiss might fix him.” One of Rogers’ crewmates called with a laugh.

I shrugged and knelt beside him and kissed him on the cheek. A small stream of blood poured from his nose causing me to squeal, “That made it worse! Don’t die big nose!”

Shanks was rolling on the beach laughing as I frantically ran around Buggy’s motionless form in a panic as blood continued to pour from his nose. The rest of the crewmembers watched unsure if they should laugh or try to help me save Buggy before he bled out.

“Shanks! Help!” I cried as Buggy’s skin took on a sickly pallor.

Shanks took a moment to collect himself before getting to his feet and coming to Buggy’s rescue, which the latter was not happy with. Once Buggy’s life was out of danger, I returned to Marco’s side as I felt a familiar hazy feeling begin to wash over me.

“You okay, Lily?” Marco looked down at me worried as I gripped his arm to keep myself from falling over.

This vision was painful. I couldn’t see, it was dark. I could hear myself screaming in pain. There were voices around me. It sounded like a battle was going on in the background. I could hear Dragon’s voice calling out to me. Why was I in pain? Why couldn’t I see anything? Dragon’s voice was getting closer, I could hear explosions all around me, above my screams. There were so many voices! ‘She’s not going to make it!’ Someone cried nearby. My screams were deafening. ‘The baby, it’s coming now!’ Dragon swore nearby.

“Lily!” Marco was shaking me and I snapped back to the present. His deep blue eyes were staring down at me in concern.

I was lying flat on my back in the warm sand with a thin film of sweat clinging to my body. “M-Marco? What happened?”

“Was that a vision?” He asked me warily.

My breathing was off, I couldn’t seem to catch my breath, “Y-yeah.”

“You’ve never had one like that before.” I looked up wildly to see Captain Rogers and Captain Whitebeard hovering just behind Marco. They exchanged wary looks.

“One like what?” I was almost afraid to ask.

“Y-you were screaming like you were in pain.” Marco smoothed my hair back tenderly. “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah. F-Fine.” My body trembled unsteadily as I tried to process the vision.

“What did you see?” Whitebeard asked.

“Shanks, take Lily to cool off.” Rogers ordered softly pointing to the crystal-clear waters, knowing that Marco wouldn’t be able to do so. He looked to his glaring rival with a carefree laugh, “She doesn’t appear to be in any condition to talk right now. Stop interrogating the poor girl.” And they were fighting again.

Marco shook his head at their antics. He moved away reluctantly as Shanks appeared at my side and swept me into his arms. Though he was a devil fruit user and the sea weakened him, he still insisted on hovering as Shanks carried me to the water.

“You don’t look good Lily.” Shanks commented with a frown.

“It was scary.” I shivered as I felt the cool waves splashing onto me as he waded into the water. The cool water cleared my head. I didn’t feel as shaky or weary as I had before and was able to sit up and support myself a little so Shanks didn’t have to deal with all deadweight.

Noticing I was returning to normal, Shanks turned back to the shore, but paused as I snaked my arms around his neck and rested my head against his shoulder.

“Can we stay out here a little longer?”

Shanks smiled, “Anything for you.”

“How come you’ve never asked me about your future?” I pondered as I relaxed in his arms loving the feel of the ocean waves pushing and pulling my body as they cascaded onto the shore.

Shanks shrugged, “It doesn’t matter if you tell me or not, it would happen either way, right?”

“So, you’re not curious?”

“Well sure, I think everyone is a little curious, but I don’t need to know.” He grinned.

“Thank you, Shanks.” I smiled.

“Huh, for what?”

“I’ll tell you in twenty years.”

Shanks laughed at this, “Deal.” He looked to the shoreline where Marco, Captain Rogers and Captain Whitebeard were waiting. “Ready?”

I sighed, “Can I pretend to be asleep so they don’t ask me about it?”

“I have a better idea.” The crimson haired teen smiled. “Get on my back and hold on tight.”

I scrambled onto his back and wrapped my arms and legs around him, “Okay, now what?”

“Take a deep breath.” He grinned before diving into the water. I could hear the angry voices of the worried crew members as we submerged under water. I clung to him tightly as he easily broke through the current, not seeming the least bit hindered by me clinging to his back.

We resurfaced in a small grotto tucked within the sheer steep cliffs. He carried me to a small patch of smooth rock that constituted as the shore line. I turned to him with a grin as he set me atop the smooth rock.

“Now you’ve done it.” I giggled. “Marco is going to be angry.”

Shanks shrugged as he hopped on the rock beside me, “Let him.”


	4. Chapter 4

~Dragon’s POV~

While in search of a place to set up a base of operations, a few of my most trusted companions and I sailed the seas together trying to help with any civil unrest and injustice as we went. Our travels brought us to a blistering hot desert island. It seemed to be isolated enough that it could work as a base of operations, the heat was sweltering, the sandy gale winds were unforgiving. It was a place that wouldn’t be traveled often. There were only a few towns on the entire island, all near the coast.

Ivankov and I made our way to one of the coastal towns to get a feel for the inhabitants of the island and find out if they were under marine rule, or where they stood in government affairs. My gaze was drawn to the burning hot sandy beach as I spotted a group of children running and laughing, their bare feet dancing across the hot sand as quickly as possible to keep from getting scalded. I felt my heart skip a beat as I spotted a familiar head of silken black as night hair, it was the insufferable girl. Her sweet trilling laughter enveloped me, it was so uplifting I wanted to close my eyes and bask in it.

“Oh, if it isn’t your precious little bride to be.” Ivankov noted with a smile as he spotted the girl running across the beach with a swarm of children all laughing and squealing as they made their way across the scalding hot sand to get to the water.

“We’re not getting married.” I growled in annoyance.

Ivankov chuckled at this, “I don’t know, I think you two would make a cute coup-.” He cut off and held his hands up for peace as I shot him a glare.

Lily and the kids made it to the waves crashing down on the scalding hot shore. They laughed and skipped around in the water splashing each other and giggling like mad. She was a wanted criminal yet she lived such a carefree life. Like the sea, wild and untamable she could be gentle and fierce all at once, it was quite maddening.

“Dragon.” Ivankov suddenly paled as he pointed down the shore further to a bar on the beach.

My heart dropped as I spotted one of the most notorious and wanted criminals, in the entire world, the King of the Pirates, Gol D Roger with his crew. They were all laughing, having a good time and enjoying themselves. The locals appeared to be joining in. What was such a big-name crew doing here? I noticed the two boys who’d come to Lily’s rescue on the night we met sitting off to the side watching the insufferable girl as she played in the water with the local children.

“What should we do?” Ivankov asked me quietly only to jump as Lily suddenly let out a cry of pain.

We turned to see what had happened and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as she lifted her foot from the water, she’d apparently stepped too close to a crab and it was now attached to her big toe. She hopped around clumsily trying to shake it off before falling onto the scalding hot sand.

“Ow! Hot! Hot! Ow! Crab! Ow!” She rolled around in the sand like a loon.

“She’s such a moron.” I grumbled.

“You’re going to marry that moron one day.” Ivankov chuckled.

I shot him another glare just as the crimson and teal haired teens ran to her aid. The crimson haired teen swept her into his arms off the hot beach as the teal haired teen attempted to get the crab off her toe. The crab decided to switch tactics and attached itself to his comically large bright red nose instead causing the teal haired teen to let out a yowl of pain causing all of the pirates to laugh.

The children in the shallow waters were all howling with laughter as the clown looking teen danced around in panic trying to swing the crab off his nose. Lily came to the teal haired teen’s rescue and managed to calmly remove the crab before scolding it and chucking it back into the ocean. Her summery golden green eyes shifted in our direction from our hiding spot behind a cluster of rocks and a dazzling smile lit up her face.

“No. No. No. Don’t you dare, you stupid girl.” I groaned under my breath.

“DRAGON!” She squealed causing Ivankov to laugh and me to smack myself on the head with a groan.

“I hate her.” I grumbled.

“You love her.” Ivankov chuckled as Lily disappeared from the beach sprinting in our direction so fast I’d barely seen her move. In the next instant she collided into me with a giggle knocking me flat on my back, drawing everyone’s attention.

I could hear approaching footsteps, a lot of approaching footsteps as Lily sat atop my chest grinning from ear to ear talking a mile a minute about nothing and everything all at once. If any of the pirates recognized me from my marine days, I was as good as dead. I attempted to move the insufferable girl, but she resisted and continued babbling away.

“Lily! Get off of me!” I snapped in annoyance as the approaching footsteps were almost upon us, I’d need to be able to defend myself.

Her lips pulled into an adorable pout and she roughly poked me in the cheek.

“Ow.” I grumbled.

Another poke to the other cheek.

“What are you doing?” I asked her in annoyance.

Another poke to the forehead.

Ivankov didn’t know whether to laugh, come to my rescue, or hightail it as we were surrounded by Pirates in the next instant.

“Lily!” I hissed at her.

“You weren’t listening to me.” She pouted again.

“What?”

“I was telling you about my day and you weren’t listening.” She folded her arms across her chest.

All of that, in just one day. This girl was going to be impossible to live with…My heart fluttered unsteadily in my chest. Why on earth would I have let that thought cross my mind? We weren’t going to live together! Was her crazy rubbing off on me? Was I starting to believe her delusions?

“Who’s your friend, Lily?” Captain Rogers asked, his dark eyes sweeping over me and Ivankov curiously.

“He’s not my friend.” Lily giggled and I groaned, she was going to get me killed, “We’re getting married.” She grinned causing Ivankov to laugh.

“WE’RE NOT GETTING MARRIED!” I yelled as I lost my temper.

“Oh, it’s you again.” The crimson haired teen smiled down at me as he and the teal haired teen with the big red nose joined the circle.

“The creep that was watching her take a bath?” The teal haired teen glowered down at me causing the pirates around us to shift uneasily and I blanched as many of them shot glares in my direction.

“Dragon, I never thought you’d be so shameless.” Ivankov shook his head.

Deciding I’d suffered enough, Lily got to her feet with a giggle her bright summery eyes dancing with laughter and amusement. She extended a hand to me to help me up, which I swatted away in annoyance before scrambling to my feet. “That’s not what happened.” I glowered at Ivankov still feeling uneasy, the pirates didn’t look happy.

“He was just trying to arrest me.” Lily shrugged and I felt my heart drop. She wouldn’t be dumb enough to tell them I used to be a marine, would she?

“Arrest you?” Rogers asked curiously.

“Mhm. He was a marine.” Lily shrugged again. I was dead. They were definitely going to kill me now.

“WHAT?!” Several of the surrounding pirates, and locals who had joined in yelled in awe.

Lily looked at everyone’s shocked faces before giggling once more, “You should see the looks on your faces. You all look ridiculous.”

“You’re going to be the death of me.” I groaned as she slipped her small hand in mine.

“Come play with me.” She tugged on my hand.

“What?! Lily! This is a serious situation! There’s no time for games!” I attempted to protest thinking the pirates were going to attack, but they all stepped back with a chuckle as Lily pulled me away. Ivankov followed along behind us with a cheesy grin. Were they really just going to let it go? Because the nutcase claimed we were getting married?

Her two loyal bodyguards, the crimson and teal haired teens followed along behind us keeping a safe distance between us but never taking their eyes off of me. Lily didn’t seem the least bit bothered by their watchful gazes, though Lily didn’t seem to be the least bit bothered by most things. She was quite the anomaly.

I sighed as she returned to the hot sand and began hopping from foot to foot. “You’re such a nuisance.” I grumbled under my breath as I picked her up off the scalding hot sand and set her on my shoulder.

“oh, I feel so tall now.” She giggled.

“Where are we going?” I asked her in annoyance.

“I wanted to show you something.” She smiled softly before waving to the children still splashing about in the shallow waters. “You’re looking for somewhere to set up a base of operations, right?”

How did she know that? I nodded.

“I think you’ll get all the support you need from the locals. They’ll all join our cause.” There was a sad look in her summery green eyes as she stared at the children splashing about in the water. I followed her gaze before I noticed each of the children had a mark. A familiar mark, the same brand that Lily had on her back. Was everyone on this island once enslaved by the Tenryubito? “Many of them still have friends and family that couldn’t escape. Everyone here has lost someone to the injustice of this world, and everyone here possesses the fire to fight for true justice and for freedom of all races.”

I chanced a glance up at her and felt my heart stutter in my chest as I saw tears welling in her summery green eyes. “Lily?”

She turned to me blinking back her tears and offered me the brightest most heartbreaking smile I had ever seen. It broke my heart to know that this bright exuberant creature had experienced such pain and sadness. How could she still smile?

I shifted my shoulder so she fell into my arms and wrapped her in a hug. Though she was by far the most insane person I’d ever encountered, I couldn’t stand to see her like this. She let out a squeak of surprise at my actions before wrapping her arms around me.

“I knew you liked me.” She sniffled between tears.

“You’re completely mental, but I don’t want to see you cry. I guess, you’re growing on me.” I smiled softly as I held her in my arms knowing I was never going to live this down as I could hear Ivankov cheering quietly behind me. He liked the crazy girl and was hopelessly rooting for her.


	5. Chapter 5

~Dragon’s POV~

The pirates didn’t seem concerned with us and stayed out of our business. I wasn’t sure what Lily’s connection was with the Roger Pirates but they all seemed to care for her a great deal. Ivankov and I spoke to some of the locals. Lily was right, every single person we talked to had a fire burning within them and wanted to join our cause to right the injustices of the world to stick up for those who could not stick up for themselves. We’d be able to lay down a foundation here and gain hundreds of able bodied agents. 

Everyone on the island was a refugee from the government, most had once been slaves, there were a few like me who had once served as a marine but left after their eyes were opened. Almost everyone we spoke to had been helped by Lily or Captain Roger. Is that why she was wanted? For freeing slaves? There were people of all different tribes and races on the island, human, fishman, mink tribe all joined together in harmony to create a better life for themselves and others like them. The island welcomed all refugees who didn’t have a home to go back to. It couldn’t be tracked by a log-pose or eternal pose as the island lacked any sort of magnetic waves for tracking. The only way to find it was with a vivre card of someone already on the island or by complete accident as Ivankov and I had done.

After we finished up talking with some of the locals we set off in search of a place to stay for the evening. I paused as I noticed the crimson haired teen that was always watching over Lily. He appeared to be waiting for me. As I drew nearer he extended a small sheet of paper to me, it was a vivre card.

“What’s this?” I asked him curiously.

“It’s Lily’s vivre card.” Every time I’d seen the crimson haired teen he seemed carefree, like Lily, but now he had a frown on his face, “Don’t lose her.” He said seriously as I accepted the vivre card.

“She has a way of always finding me, I don’t think I’ll be able to lose her.” I noted, but his face didn’t change, he still looked serious.

He was about to respond when the teal haired teen appeared at the end of the street scowling in my direction. Big nose appeared not to have noticed his counterpart’s presence as he stomped toward me trying to look intimidating.

“Listen here, big guy.” He started off sounding menacing, “I don’t care what she thinks she saw. You don’t deserve her. If anyone is going to marry her, it’s me. So back off!” He poked me aggressively in the chest.

“Buggy?” The crimson haired teen chuckled.

“Ah! Stupid Shanks! What are you doing here?!” Buggy yelped.

“So, you do have a crush on Lily.” Shanks grinned.

“Of course, I don’t!” Buggy’s face turned as bright red as his giant red nose.

“You just said you wanted to marry her.” Shanks laughed.

“No! I said if anyone was going to marry her, it would be me, I’m obviously the best choice.” He straightened himself up.

Ivankov shook his head at this and looked to me with a sly smile, “Looks like you have some competition, Dragon.”

“I’m not marrying the nutcase!” I grumbled, I was about to throw the vivre card back at the redhead but my body reacted on its own and I found myself tucking it into my breast pocket, over my heart. Why the hell was I keeping the damn thing?

I excused myself from the fighting teens and my companion as the last bit of sunlight fell below the horizon and stars began to blanket the sky. Though the desert was miserably hot during the day, it had a chill at night. My body seemed to move unconsciously as I lost myself in my thoughts trying to think of the next course of action and the plans to set up our base of operations.

Before long I found myself on the beach, walking away from civilization. I paused as I spotted Lily sitting atop a large rock near the shore. Her summery green eyes were staring off in an unfocused daze, her hands were clenched into tight fists and her breathing seemed somewhat unsteady.

“Lily?” I called to her softly as I made my way closer to the rock.

She didn’t appear to have heard me. Her body didn’t react in the slightest.

“Lily?” I called to her a little louder.

My heart dropped as she suddenly slipped from the rock with a gasp and I lunged forward to catch her before she could hit the smaller rocks below. She let out a soft yelp as I caught her in my arms before throwing her arms around my neck to keep herself upright.

“D-Dragon, what are you doing here?” She seemed almost out of breath.

“Going to be a little difficult to get married if you’re splattered all over the rocks.” My mouth ran away with me, why the hell did I say that? I felt something stir within me as a rosy blush spread across her pale cheeks. “Ah! No! Don’t get the wrong idea!”

She let out a cute squeal and clung to me. “You said you were going to marry me!”

“I said no such thing!” I groaned as I released her from my hold and watched her fall to the sand.

She landed not so gracefully in a heap with a soft ‘oof’. “That wasn’t very nice.”

“What was all that about, anyway?” I asked her with a sigh.

She bit her lip, hesitant to tell me. “A vision.”

This again. “Yes. Yes, we’re getting married and having a so-.” I paused as I saw the hurt expression on her face.

She shook her head. “That wasn’t it.” Whatever it was it scared her.

Sighing I held my arms open and couldn’t help but smile as she ran to me and fell into my embrace. She felt so small and fragile in my arms. Though I wasn’t sure I believed in her visions, whatever she’d seen upset her a great deal. “What did you see?”

“I was captured by the marines. They were bringing me to an execution platform in Loguetown.” She shivered against me. Why would they go so far as to execute her? Wasn’t she the victim in all of this? “It was before everything else, if that happens, we won’t get married, we won’t have our son… and injustice and tyranny win!” She was hysterical.

“Let’s say for a moment I believe in all of this.” I sighed, “You didn’t see yourself die, did you?”

She thought for a moment, “No, they just took me to the platform.”

“So, I just have to get there in time to save you.” I shrugged.

Her bright summery green eyes filled with tears, “Why would you save me?”

“Call me crazy, but I want to see how all of this plays out.” I smiled.

She giggled at this before childishly teasing me in a sing-song voice, “You like me.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at this, she was positively insufferable, but my heart always felt lighter in her presence. “Alright, I give. I like you.”

Her sweet melodic laughter filled the cool night air spreading warmth around us. We stood locked in an embrace beneath the stars listening to the ocean waves splashing on the rocky shore for a long moment. Though I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, I liked how perfectly her body fit against mine, wrapped in my embrace as if it were where she belonged.


	6. Chapter 6

~Lily’s POV~

The Roger Pirates left the island soon after, I stayed behind to help Dragon with the locals, much to his displeasure. I was starting to think it was an act. He admitted to liking me, though that could just mean he’d learned to tolerate me.

After a quick game of ‘who can run across the hot sand barefoot without screaming’ with the children, which I lost and had to carry them all on my back, back to town, I went in search of Dragon and Ivankov. They had gone with some able-bodied men deeper into the desert island in search of a good location to set up a base of operations not wanting it to be in view from the shore. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t ask me, I’d already seen it in a vision, though Dragon didn’t really believe in my visions.

I swept a simple white linen cloak around me to protect me from the sun’s harsh rays and raced off into the desert following their footprints in the sand. After a few kilometers, their footprints vanished, perhaps there had been a sandstorm? It was the middle of the open desert, were they able to find shelter in time?

“Dragon?!” I called in a panic as I scoured the rolling waves of sand.

In the distance I heard what sounded like fighting and took off as fast as I could. I couldn’t pinpoint the sound, it was almost muffled and sounded like it was ahead of me but also beneath me. Perhaps they’d found a valley within the desert? As I ran forward, I felt the sand begin to shift beneath me and soon felt myself getting sucked down.

A scream escaped me as I was dragged into the sand. The sand opened up into an underground cavern and spit me out. I fell with a shriek not knowing how far down the bottom was only to gasp as a pair of strong arms encircled me. Chancing a glance upward at my rescuer I felt my heart stutter in my chest as I met his dark gaze, Dragon. There was a deep cut above his temple that was streaming blood.

“Drago-.” He clapped a hand over my mouth and pulled me behind what looked like fallen pillars. Was there once civilization on this island? What exactly, were we hiding from?

I scanned the darkness around me but didn’t see anyone else that had been with the group. My heart was pounding sporadically in my chest as Dragon held me tightly against his taut torso, my back pressed against his chest. He had one arm around my waist keeping me in place and still had his other hand clapped over my mouth to keep me quiet.

“Stay here.” His gruff voice breathed in my ear from behind me, sending a shiver down my spine. He didn’t move his hand as if sensing my need to protest. “Just do as I say, stupid girl.” He grumbled before releasing me from his hold and fixing me with a look of warning.

A low growl erupted from somewhere in the darkness sounding as if it were in another cavern. How big was this underground palace? The pillar I was currently tucked behind was carved out of smooth glossy marble. My eyes began to adjust to the darkness. I was able to make out more details of my surroundings. It looked like I was in what once was a courtyard, there was a big dome over top with a few small holes which must have been what I fell through. There was some sand dusting the ground at my feet from when it shifted on occasion above but I could still make out the rows of what I assumed had been flowerbeds in a previous lifetime. There were raised marble outlined beds in a pattern around a marble fountain. It must have been beautiful in it’s prime.

Dragon vanished with one last look of warning, urging me to stay put as he took off in the direction the growl had come from. I heard men fighting in the distance and a few screams as whatever they were fighting appeared to have thrown some of them.

I slowly crept through the courtyard, in the direction of the sounds of fighting. Something shifted behind me and my heart started to pound hard and loud in my chest as fear gripped it. Cautiously I turned to see what had made the sound behind me and felt a gasp hitch in my throat as I was met with a pair of glowing gold eyes. It was a creature I’d never seen before, appearing to be a cross between a cat and a mole, with terrifying claws that looked like they could rip through stone, and razor-sharp fangs, it stood tall towering so high above me I could run under it’s belly and my head still wouldn’t be close enough to reach it.

The strange beast let out a growl as it took a step toward me. I took a faltering step backward and bumped into one of the leaning pillars. I cringed as the pillar gave a groan of protest, it had barely been hanging on. My eyes widened as the pillar slipped from its precarious perch and toppled into the pillar next to it creating a domino effect knocking all of the remaining standing pillars, keeping the dome in place, to the ground.

“Oops.” I squeaked as I heard the dome above begin to groan in protest.

The cat beast stared at me with a disapproving look before the dome collapsed overhead and sand poured from above. I attempted to run for the room Dragon had disappeared into with a scream, but soon found myself buried in the sand. The cat beast let out a yowl from behind me. My clumsiness had gotten it buried too.

In no time at all I was completely submerged in deep heavy sand. I struggled to move my arms and legs and desperately kept my mouth shut to keep from getting a mouthful of sand. Drowning in sand seemed like a terrible way to go. The sand was immovable. Concentrating around me I was able to use haki to shift the sand enough for me to wiggle and move a little. With small bursts of haki I was able to repel the sand enough to be able to move and breathe a fraction in the sand in the few seconds it would propel away from me.

I struggled to make my way toward the strange cat beast, it was my fault it got trapped, I had to help it out. After a few steps I smacked into something furry and heard a growl of protest.

“Kitty!” I choked as I got a mouthful of sand before using many bursts of haki to expel the sand from my mouth with a grimace. The cat beast turned to me with a snarl, but the moment the sand settled around us after my burst of haki, whimpered, it was being crushed by the sand. “Don’t eat me and I’ll try and get us out of here. Deal?”

It struggled to nod its head, surprisingly seeming to understand me. I’d already expelled a lot of energy just to get to the strange cat mole creature. We continued the process moving at a snail’s pace as I had to expel a lot more explosive haki to shift the sand all around the great cat beast. Before long I was beginning to feel faint.

“Lily!” I heard muffled voices nearby followed by the sound of the sand shifting in various locations, one seemed very close to us. I struggled to use another burst of haki to shift the sand.

Moments later strong hands plunged into the sand around me. I hurriedly grabbed hold of the giant cat beast by the neck as the hands gripped my waist and attempted to wrench me out of the sand.

“What the hell?” I heard Dragon mutter in protest as he was met with resistance as I’d just gained over a thousand pounds thanks to my new furry friend. “Give me a hand!” He yelled, hurried footsteps rushed toward him.

Another tug and me and the cat beast surfaced from the sand.

“AH!” There was a chorus of shouts from several of the men as the cat beast let out an angry yowl.

I fell into Dragon’s arms coughing, sputtering and struggling to fill my lungs with oxygen. He attempted to dust me off and get the sand out of my hair but soon gave up, it was still spilling out of my clothes, I’d be finding sand for weeks!

The men all looked a little worse for wear, sporting some cuts and a few deep gashes. They hurriedly surrounded the cat beast as it let out a roar. It’s glowing gold eyes looking to me in an almost accusing manner.

“Hey!” I wriggled out of Dragon’s arms and broke through the circle of men to face the cat beast, “It’s not my fault! You snuck up on me and made me fall into it, so it’s your fault!”

The cat beast let out a growl of protest.

“Don’t take that tone with me furball, I could have left you in there!” I jerked my thumb in the direction of the giant mound of sand.

“What the hell is going on?” One of the locals asked in awe as the cat beast and I continued our argument.

Dragon looked from me to the giant cat beast with a shake of his head, “Definitely crazy.”

“Perfect for you.” Ivankov chuckled.

“Okay, okay! I give. Sorry for burying you in sand.” I sighed as I extended my hand to the cat beast, “Friends?”

It let out a soft purr and nuzzled my hand with its huge head.

“Woo hoo! I’ve captured a cute mole kitty beast! Now I shall ride you into battle!” I giggled.

Dragon was shaking his head at me again, “Since you’re now friends with one of the native monsters, perhaps you could ask it to show us the way out?” He sighed.

“Awh, but I wanted to explore, this place seems fun.” I beamed. “And first, you need a name.” I looked to the cat beast and pondered a name, “Oh! Catsermole!”

“What?” Dragon stared at me as if I’d lost my mind.

“Like casserole but cats and mole it’s perfect!” I giggled.

The cat beast shot me a dark look as if it could sense the name I picked out was terrible. Ivankov and the other men burst out laughing at this, not caring that some of them had some pretty nasty wounds that probably needed doctoring.

“That’s a terrible name.” Dragon scoffed.

“Then you come up with one.” I grumbled as I folded my arms across my chest.

“Cat.” He shrugged.

“That’s so boring.” I huffed, “It’s Catsermole, Cats for short.” I stood straighter, “Come on Cats, let’s get out of here.”

“I think you should probably name your son, Dragon.” Ivankov teased as we followed Cats through the underground palace.

Dragon shook his head, he didn’t have the energy to argue it anymore as he was getting it from all sides now. His dark gaze fell on me as I struggled to keep up with the group. I’d expelled a lot of energy to keep me and Cats from drowning in the sand. He paused and gave me a moment to catch up. The moment I got within reach he swept me off my feet, cradling me in his arms and resumed his pace easily catching up to the others.

My face burned at this. “W-what are you doing?”

“You look like you’re ready to collapse.” Dragon replied tonelessly as he kept his gaze focused on the path ahead, there was a faint flush of color at the tips of his ears.

I wound my arms around his neck and rested my head against his shoulder giggling softly as the red flush at the tips of his ears began to spread, soon the entirety of both ears was bright red. My eyes drifted closed as I felt the steady rhythmic beating of his heart in his chest, in sync with my own. “Dragon?”

“Hm?”

“Thanks for saving me, again.”

“You’re making it a habit.” His voice was light and teasing and brought a smile to my lips.

“I promise to always be a nuisance.” I teased.

“Oh joy.” He sighed, but there was a smile in his voice.


	7. Chapter 7

~Dragon’s POV~

Lily’s strange new friend showed us the way out of the underground palace but refused to leave the safety of the dark fortress. After lots of hugs goodbye, Lily waved farewell to the cat beast as we made our way back to the sand covered desert. Her summery golden green eyes fell on the patch of expansive desert before us and a small smile twisted onto her lips.

“What is it?” I asked her curiously.

“This is it.” She giggled as she pointed to the vast nothingness. It was completely barren, but there was less sand in the area she was pointing, it was wide open had a great vantage point to see but not be seen. It would be a perfect location for our base of operations.

“How do you know?”

“I saw it in a vision.” She grinned, her smile so bright it was practically blinding.

This again.

Her smile faltered after a moment and she turned her back on me. She was quiet for the rest of the trek as we found some cover behind some rocks for everyone to tend to their wounds and hide from the blazing hot sun. Had I upset her again?

“Lily?” Her name on my lips stirred something within me.

Her summery green eyes turned in my direction and I found myself lost in her gaze reminding me of a field of tall grass on a hot summer’s day. She frowned after a moment as I failed to communicate. I didn’t know why I’d called out to her, I didn’t have anything to say I just wanted to see those warm summery green eyes.

I shook my head and turned to survey the rest of the party to see how bad the damage was. Everyone was in one piece. One of the locals, a young fishman a few years my junior, by the name of Hack appeared to be the worst off. He had a deep gash in his side from one of the giant cat-beasts claws. His usually brown spotted, yellow skin was a much paler due to the loss of blood. Lily moved away from the group towards a small grouping of rocks.

“Lily?” I called after her.

“There’s supposed to be water here.” She mumbled in a daze as she looked to the small gathering of rocks, it did have the shape of a pond, but looked as if it had long since dried up. It was possible there was underground pockets of water on the island. There was an entire underground palace so finding an underground water source wasn’t too far-fetched of an idea.

It would be nice if there were a water source so we could clean everyone’s wounds before dressing them. We were way off course and didn’t know how far off from town we were. Lily wandered into the center of the collection of rocks. She closed her eyes in concentration before punching the ground with a cry expelling a massive amount of her explosive haki causing the ground to crack, crumble and fall away.

Water bubbled up beneath her feet and in no time at all filled the small circle of rocks. She swayed on her feet, expelling too much energy and collapsed face first in the shallow water.

“Lily!” I waded through the water to get to her as the pond continued to fill up with water, growing deeper with each passing second. Why the hell did I go after her? I couldn’t swim!

Somehow managing to catch her around the middle, I swung her into my arms and struggled to wade back to the outer rim of rocks surrounding the pond. Her head slumped onto my shoulder as she slipped from consciousness. Stubborn girl, why would she push herself so far? To the point of collapsing.

The young fishman, Hack, looked to the unconscious girl in my arms with a soft smile, “Thanks again, Lily.” Had she saved him too? How many people had she saved? I wanted to know more about her past about what made her the person she was today.

Once everyone had tended to their wounds, Ivankov approached me, “I’ll hold your little bride while you fix yourself up.” He teased me.

I handed her over without a word, it wasn’t worth it to argue anymore. After splashing some water on my face to wash off the dried blood from a close shave with one of the cat beasts protecting the underground palace. How did Lily know there was water there? Could she really see the future? My gaze drifted over to the unconscious girl as Ivankov set her down under the cover of some shade from a few massive boulders. There was just something about the crazy carefree girl that drew people in. She’d even swayed one of the lethal underground cat-beasts without the use of Conqueror’s Haki. She was infectious and crazy, a horrible combination.

Lily let out a soft whimper of pain and began tossing and turning. “No.” She cried sounding like she was in pain, “Don’t take him away from me.” Tears streamed down her pale cheeks.

Ivankov threw me a worried look, “Is this a vision?”

“How should I know.” I grumbled as I made my way to her and knelt beside her unconscious form. What was she seeing? I shook her lightly, “Lily, wake up.”

“Don’t take him.” Her cries were heartbreaking, “No! You can’t take him from me! Luf-.”

“Lily!” I shook her more forcefully and felt my heart skip a beat as her tear filled golden flecked green eyes fluttered open. “What was tha-.” I cut off as she dove into my arms with a cry. “Ah! What are you doing?” I panicked. At a loss for what to do with the sobbing girl I looked to Ivankov for help.

Ivankov shook his head at me. “What did you do to upset her now?” He tsked.

“What?!” I glowered, “How is this my fault?” I looked down to the sobbing girl as she clung to me covering the front of my shirt in tears.

Lily’s sobbing ceased and she cried silently for a few minutes before regaining her composure. She shoved out of my hold before throwing me a dark look. What did I do now?

I opened my mouth to question her but she was much quicker. She lashed out, her reflexes quick as lightning and slapped me across the face, there was a strange explosive force behind her swing and I was sent flying. I landed flat on my back nearly a hundred meters away, my face stung and all the wind was knocked from my lungs. Had she always been freakishly strong? Rolling to my feet, I sighed in exasperation.

“What was that for, nutcase?!” I yelled at her as I trekked back through the sand to rejoin the group.

“You’ll know when the time comes!” Lily snapped as another tear slipped from her hold.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? I crossed the hot desert to reach her. Ivankov and the others stood back nervously not sure if they should step in or give us privacy and opted for pretending to look anywhere but at us. Once she was within reach I caught her by the shoulders and forced her to meet my gaze.

“In the future, can you refrain from getting angry with me for things I haven’t done.”

“Yet.” She sniffled.

I sighed, “Can you refrain from getting angry with me for things I haven’t done yet.” I amended.

Lily bit her lip but reluctantly nodded. Her gaze flit to my cheek and a look of remorse crossed her face.

“Handprint?” I pondered.

A faint blush spread across her cheeks and she nodded.

“Bright red?”

Another nod.

“Turning purple?”

Another.

It stung a lot. If she’d struck a civilian with that hit, she’d have shattered their skull. For a nutcase, she was quite formidable.

“I won’t say sorry.” She said softly. “You deserved it.”

I couldn’t help but shake my head at her, “You’re a headcase.” I wiped away her tears and pulled her into my arms, “How about I apologize, then. Sorry for making you cry.” Just what could I have done in her vision to make her cry like that?


	8. Chapter 8

~Lily’s POV~

Dragon was busy setting up his base of operations on the refugee island. He was working with the locals to construct a stronghold. I felt bad for my actions, for hitting him for something he hadn’t even done yet, that I’d seen in my vision. Every time I thought back on that vision my stomach would churn and I’d feel an overwhelming sadness take hold of me. I tried to push it to the back of my mind telling myself I had to find a way to change it, to keep it from happening. Deciding it was best to keep my mind off that vision, I put some space between us and left the island; before I knew it, I found myself in the South Blue on the small island of Baterilla.

“Lily-chan?” A soft feminine voice shook me from my darkening thoughts.

I chanced a glance upward to find a young woman in her twenties with long strawberry blond hair, warm brown eyes and a spattering of freckles across her cheeks, Portgas D Rouge, the secret lover of Gol D Roger. “Rouge!” I beamed and threw my arms around her.

She laughed a warm lyrical laugh that instantly warmed me up. “You’ve been staring off into space ever since you got here, what’s wrong?”

I frowned. “I wish I didn’t have these stupid visions. What’s the point in having them if I can’t change them?”

Rouge wrapped an arm around my shoulders and whisked me out to the flower garden of her pretty cottage. She sat me down on a bench surrounded by beautiful blooms of all colors before ducking back into her cottage to make tea. Moments later she returned with a pretty lacey white apron over her long pale blue dress and a tray with tea and cookies.

“What did you see?” She asked me calmly as she pressed a saucer with a teacup balanced atop it into my hand.

My hands trembled as I thought back on the vision. “I saw my son. He was just a baby, Dragon’s father took him from me, he said I was a poison on their family and he wouldn’t let me corrupt Luffy, like I had with his son.” Tears welled in my eyes. “And Dragon just let him take him away.” A sob hitched in my throat.

Rouge smoothed her hands through my hair in a mothering gesture to soothe me. “Your visions are usually over short spans of time, no more than a few minutes at a time. Perhaps they were just things said out of anger and misunderstanding.”

“I’ve never seen myself with Luffy when he’s older.”

“Not yet, but that doesn’t mean you won’t or that it won’t happen.” Rouge tried to reassure me.

“My father-in-law hates me, he thinks I’m a scourge upon this earth.”

Rouge smiled, “You’re not married yet, Lily-chan. Stop living in a future that has yet to come and focus on the now. There’s no sense in worrying about things you can’t control or may be interpreting incorrectly.”

I felt a little better after talking to Rouge and tried to tuck my worries to the back of my mind. When we first met, I had a vision, of her death; Captain Roger introduced us and I’d turned white as a sheet as I was struck with the vision. He explained to her that I could see the future. She approached it like Shanks, telling me she didn’t want to know about her future. In other visions I saw her son, Ace, he and Luffy were going to be very close and would one day become sworn brothers. It made me anxious that I never saw myself in visions with them. Did that mean I was going to die too? Or that I’d be imprisoned and unable to see them?

I shook my head as I pushed the worrisome thoughts to the back of my mind. This gift of mine, as many called it, was nothing more than a curse, constantly taunting me with things I couldn’t change.

Rouge’s warm eyes turned in my direction as I tried to act normal and unaffected. “So, what is your husband to be like?” She asked me with a small smile trying to distract me.

I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about Dragon. “He’s really fun to tease.” I giggled as I saw his rugged face scrunched up in exasperation in my mind’s eye. “He’s strong and has a quick temper but he can also be very sweet and patient.”

Rouge smiled, “You’re completely smitten.”

A faint blush spread across my pale cheeks. “I don’t know.”

Rouge laughed, “You’re blushing.”

“I am not.” I whined and attempted to bury my blushing face behind my long ebony hair.

“It’s cute.” Rouge smiled, “I don’t often get to see you like this. It’s refreshing.” She reached out and pat me on the head affectionately. Rouge was like the big sister I never had and always wanted.

“Oh? Lily-chan, what are you doing here?” Roger’s familiar warm voice sounded from the gate entrance of the garden from the road.

Captain Roger had ditched his usual gold accented red captain’s coat and was dressed casually in a plain white button up shirt, and a pair of light colored trousers. His warm dark brown eyes held concern in them as they fell on me. Something must have been revealed on my face, my anxiousness and worry still present. He approached the pair of us and placed a tender kiss to Rouge’s cheek before ruffling my hair affectionately.

“Sorry, I’m intruding.” I scrambled to my feet preparing to make a run for it.

“Sit.” Rouge smiled as Captain Roger lightly placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me from running away.

Roger joined us in the garden and sat on the opposite side of me on the stone bench. “That ex-marine of yours, he’s Garp’s son, right?” He asked me curiously.

“How did you know?” I asked him in awe.

“Maybe you’re not the only one who can see the future.” He teased me causing Rouge to shake her head with a light lyrical laugh.

“Garp spoke about him often then?” Rouge mused causing a bashful smile to spread across Roger’s lips.

Roger chuckled, “Aye. He was awfully proud of him. Last I heard they were considering giving him the rank of Admiral. Till Lily-chan got her hands on him.” He teased me mercilessly.

Dragon was going to be made an admiral? And he left all of that behind because of me? My heart swelled at this, I had no idea he’d left so much behind.


	9. Chapter 9

~Dragon’s POV~

Though it had only been a short while since we’d started on a base of operations and formulating plans, discussing countries that could use our help, places of dire social injustice trying to prioritize who to help first, I felt we were already starting to make a difference. The island was becoming more populated with refugees rescued through quick excursions to islands nearby. We hadn’t accomplished anything big yet, just a few raids on some human auction houses in the area. They were supposed to be banned, save for a few areas, but there were government officials and high-ranking marines that wanted to line their pockets and would oversea them in unapproved areas for extra cash. Lily was right, there was so much corruption within the government and marines, how had I not seen it before?

“Where’s your cute little bride to be?” Ivankov pondered in a teasing tone as he joined me in our temporary meeting room, a large tent next to the construction sight of our base.

I threw him a sharp look before shrugging my shoulders, “Who knows, she comes and goes as she pleases.” Though her presence was missed. The island dulled considerably when she wasn’t here, even the locals missed the girl’s presence. I was half expecting her to pop out of nowhere, fall from the tent rafters keeping it upright and tackle me with a hug, she always made some kind of grand entrance that usually included tackling me.

“You have a vivre card, don’t you?” Ivankov pointed to the pocket over my heart where I kept her vivre card. I didn’t know why I had accepted it, or why I now habitually kept it on my person.

Sighing I reached into my breast pocket to retrieve her vivre card and felt my heart stutter in my chest. Something was wrong. The vivre card had shrunk in size and looked cracked and withered. She was hurt. I looked to the mound of maps and plans atop the giant circular table in the center of the tent with a heavy heart.

As if sensing my dilemma, Ivankov smiled, “Go to her.”

“I’ll be back soon.” I promised before slipping out of the tent, running for the harbor. Her vivre card felt brittle in my hands as if the slightest touch would cause it to crumble. “Stupid girl, you better be okay.”

I got to a small ship that could easily be crewed by one person, it was a quick stealth vessel. Setting the course in the direction of the pull of her vivre card, I set sail. It wasn’t long after I set sail, that my personal Den Den Mushi began to buzz. Only a handful of people knew the code and frequency.

I picked up the receiver and waited for the person on the other end to speak first.

“Son?” My father’s gruff voice barked on the other end. Why would he be trying to contact me? Last, I’d seen him, when I told him I was leaving the marines, setting out to establish a true force of justice for the people, he’d told me I was the greatest disappointment and the next time we met would be as enemies.

“I’m a little busy, Old Man, make it quick.”

“Looking for the little witch that swayed you off your path?” He growled angrily, he blamed Lily when I’d told him I was leaving, said she had bewitched me. Perhaps she did, but I was grateful to her for helping me see.

“She’s not a witch.” I sighed, “I don’t have time to argue with you, Old Ma-.”

“She’s in my custody.”

What?! I glanced down at the brittle vivre card in my hand, “And was her condition better or worse before she was in your custody?”

“She resisted arrest.” My father said simply, “Took out more than half of my crew, until I stopped her with a fist of love.”

“Dad.” I groaned. “Those are stronger than your normal punches, what the hell?” Not to mention, he reserved those only for those he cared about, to toughen them up.

“She earned it.” The Den Den Mushi was grinning.

“I thought you hated her.”

“She did poison my son’s mind and make him forsake the path I’d carefully chosen for him… but it was the first time I’d seen you smile since your mother’s passing.”

“Where is she?” I asked calmly as I shifted course as the vivre card started to pull in a different direction.

Before my father could answer I heard a loud crash followed by a few panicked shouts in the distance. “Vice Admiral Garp! The prisoner is awake!”

“Dad, don’t hurt her please.” I attempted to negotiate with my father. The connection was lost and the Den Den Mushi dropped the line of communication.

I saw smoke rising into the sky in the distance, it was in the direction of the pull of her vivre card. They were close. As I drew nearer I spotted a small island with my father’s ship anchored just off shore. There was a massive hole in the side of the ship, the source of the smoke, as if there had been an explosion. Docking at some rocks on the opposite side of the island I followed the faint tug of her vivre card.

I didn’t make it too far onto the island before I spotted my father sitting on a large rock looking out at the vast stretch of ocean. Vice Admiral Monkey D Garp was an intimidating man, who’d beaten me with his fists of love more times than I could count. His salt and pepper hair looked somewhat mussed, his usually pristine navy uniform was disheveled. Did Lily put up that much of a fight? I’d vastly underestimated her abilities.

“Where’s Lily?” I asked as I approached him.

“Puny little witch is a lot stronger than I first thought.” My father chuckled, as he turned to me.

“She’s full of surprises.” I agreed but kept my distance. “Where is she?”

“Safe and secure.”

“You know she was a slave once, she has a brand seared into her back.”

My father’s smile turned somber, “I’m aware.”

“So why arrest her?” I challenged him.

“The celestial dragon who enslaved her was found dead in his home and his prized possession, a slave girl with the ability to see the future, was missing. Other slaves in the area also went missing that night so we don’t know if the girl is responsible for the murder, but we cannot allow a girl with her sight to fall into the hands of criminals.”

“You believe she can see the future?”

“You don’t?” My father frowned.

I shrugged at this, “How should I know? She’s a bit of an eccentric. So, what’s to be done with her?”

“We’d like to find out the truth of what happened the night she escaped. She’ll be given a choice: to use her sight for the World Government or execution.”

“Even if she’s innocent?”

My father grimaced at this, “Yes.”

“And that’s okay with you?!” I glowered.

“For the greater good, she has connections with several pirates already, who knows what she’s divulged to them.”

My blood boiled at this, “Release her.”

My father motioned to someone outside of my line of sight. One of my father’s subordinates stepped forward with an unconscious Lily in his arms. Her hands were bound behind her back, her skin was lifelessly pale, a small amount of blood dribbled from the corner of her lip and most alarming of all was a massive amount of blood staining her loose white shirt on her side starting from her shoulder and spreading all the way down to the bottom hem of her shirt. She’d lost a lot of blood. There were dark circles beneath her eyes giving her a gaunt haunting expression.

I shot my father a dark look as the girl was placed on the ground at his feet before his subordinate retreated. Lily started to stir, there was movement beneath her eyelids and I noticed one of her fingers twitch, she was coming to.

“You have two options, son. Option One: Come back, rejoin the marines and I’ll release the girl. It hasn’t been that long, you haven’t done anything too drastic yet, we can claim it was a sabbatical.”

I glared at this.

“Option Two: I take you and the girl in as criminals.”

Lily’s summery green eyes fluttered open before she winced in pain. Her gaze flicked in my direction and grew wide as if surprised to see me.

“Option Three.” I smiled as I noticed Lily charging up her explosive haki.

“What’s option three?” Father frowned.

“Much more fun.” Lily giggled as if she could see what was to come, my father truly believed she had the sight, the ability to see the future, perhaps she did. The shackles around her wrists suddenly exploded shooting shrapnel in every direction.

I cast my hands out causing a strong gust of wind to sweep her out of harm’s way. She flipped herself around in the strong breeze and easily maneuvered to land swiftly beside me. Her small hand slipped into mine, it felt cool and I could feel a slight tremor in her touch.

“You saved me again.” She beamed as she clung to my hand.

I couldn’t help but smile at her, “Yes, you’re quite the handful.”

“Guns.” She warned, though I didn’t see anyone else, I swept her up with one arm before leaping out of the way. Bullets whizzed past from several directions, they would have hit us had we not moved. “I don’t think your father approves of our marriage.”

“WHAT?!” My father gaped.

I flicked the pale girl on the forehead and held back a laugh as she let out an adorable squeak and rubbed the red spot on her forehead. “Hey!”

“We’re not married, yet.” I corrected her before realizing I’d just said yet. “No. No. No. Lily, don’t get any ide-.”

She let out an inhuman squeal and threw her arms around me before giggling as she squeezed me tight. My heart soared as I was enveloped by her sweet laughter and her cute squeals of delight. Even though she was badly injured and we were still in danger, she could find the time to rejoice and celebrate. She was completely mental.

“How about we escape before you start celebrating.” I sighed as she continued trying to squeeze the life out of me.

“But you finally accepted it!” She beamed.

“Guess you’ve finally worn me down.” I poked at her causing an adorable flustered look to cross her pale face.

“Sea prism net.” She warned me.

I held her securely against me, balancing her with one arm and leapt back again. She was right. A sea prism net shot forth hitting the spot we’d been a fraction of a second ago. Her skin took on an unhealthy bluish grey tinge. It was time for us to take our leave.

“Dragon.” My father called out to me, his tone pleading as he sensed I was about to depart. “Don’t go down this path.” His gaze fell on the pale girl half slumped against me, she’d lost too much blood and was struggling to cling to consciousness. I could see him working out the possibilities, thinking I’d use her ability to take the world by storm. He was wrong. I didn’t care if Lily could see the future or not, her insight was useful but it was her beliefs, her ideals, her ambition, her selflessness, her willingness to help those in need, and her crazy personality that made me want to keep her at my side.

“It’s time for a revolution. The world needs to change. Too many are oppressed and so many look the other way.” I looked to the girl in my arms as I felt her body fall limp. I needed to tend to her wounds.

“Do you love her?”

I met my father’s dark stern gaze before looking down at the unconscious girl in my arms as her head dropped onto my shoulder. Her fingers still entwined in my shirt, clinging tightly to the front of it, like a child clinging to a blanket. A small smile wormed its way onto my lips, “I don’t know. But the world would be a very dark place without her in it.” Using my devil fruit abilities, I called forth a hellacious storm and slipped away in a gust of wind with Lily tucked delicately in my arms.

Once back to the ship I maneuvered strong gusts of winds at the sails and the ship rocketed across the water getting us far away, rapidly. I set Lily’s unconscious form on a small cot in the tiny one room cabin aboard the vessel before peeling away her blood-soaked shirt to examine her wound. My cheeks flushed with color as I pulled the bloody garment away from her, leaving her in nothing more than her shorts and a blood soaked white bra. I’d have to remove it. As I struggled with the clasp on the back I thought back to our first meeting. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen her topless, she’d been completely naked when we first met, and was bold and fearless as ever.

There was a deep gunshot wound just below her collarbone. I cleaned the wound, retrieved the bullet that had lodged itself into her scapula and bandaged her up before shrugging out of my clean linen shirt. It drowned her, but at least she’d be covered.

Those breathtaking summery green eyes fluttered open. She blinked a few times not recognizing her surroundings and for a moment I worried she’d panic. Her eyes fell on me and she relaxed on the cot before giggling to herself. “You look funny.” She pointed to my current appearance, I’d found a jacket to throw on over my bare chest. Her gaze fell to my shirt currently drowning her petite frame, “Did you change my clothes?”

My face burned at this, “So I could tend to your wounds, nothing else.”

Her beautiful lyrical laughter surrounded me, “Your face is all red. Are you embarrassed?”

“No.” I grumbled and turned to exit the cabin to check our heading.

Her small hand slipped in mine keeping me in place, “Thanks for saving me again.”

I squeezed her hand lightly, “Always.”

A faint flush of color splashed across her cheeks.

“Now who’s embarrassed.” I teased her before brushing my thumb across the back of her hand affectionately, “Get some rest. You nearly got yourself killed today.”

“Dragon?” Her voice sounded somewhat meek and vulnerable as she averted her gaze.

“What is it?”

“Do you regret meeting me?” Why would she ask that?

“No.”

“Wouldn’t your life have been better without me in it? You and your father wouldn’t be fighting…”

“We always find something to fight about with or without your help. Had I not met you, I’d be a sheep blinding obeying orders because I never questioned the ones who issued them. That would be regrettable.” I thought back on what my father had said and hesitated, “Lily? What happened, when you escaped…” I didn’t know how to phrase it.

“You want to know if I killed the man who enslaved me?”

I nodded.

“Would that change your opinion of me?”

I thought for a moment. There wasn’t anything that would change my opinion of her, I’d already decided she was a nutcase. “No.”

She smiled at this and shook her head, “No. I didn’t kill him. Captain Roger did.”

“Why?”

“He tried to kill me. He nearly succeeded too. Captain Roger heard me scream.” Lily shivered at the unpleasant memory. She looked down to her wrists, there were faint red ringed outlines from the tight shackles the marines had put on her. “I hate cages and restraints. I’d rather die than be imprisoned, ever again.” There was a desolate look in her usually bright summery green eyes, it pained me to see her like this.

I had to distract her, with something else. “So, we have a son in the future?”

Her eyes widened in awe. Happy tears brimmed in her waterline. A bright smile lit up her entire face and I hurriedly covered my ears as she let out a squeal, “You believe me now!” She was grinning from ear to ear.

I rubbed my ears as I heard a faint ringing, she was so obnoxious at times, “Sure. Tell me about our son.”

“He’s going to be the most perfect thing in existence.” Lily beamed as tears of pride and joy streamed down her pale cheeks.

“So, he’s going to be as crazy as you?” I attempted to sigh in exasperation but couldn’t help but smile.

“Our son is not crazy, he’s perfect.” Lily swatted at me before wincing in pain at the effort.

“Sorry.” I released her hand so I could fold a blanket over top of her, “Get some rest, nutcase.”


	10. Chapter 10

~Dragon’s POV~

Lily had an aversion to bedrest though I did notice while she was injured she slept like the dead. When she’d awoken she acted like nothing happened and was full of energy once again. She was such a strange girl. Though, no matter how hard I tried, I found myself being drawn in by her. Everything about her was enticing and hypnotic. Perhaps my father wasn’t too far off in his assumptions, Lily had bewitched me.

Construction was going well on our new base of operations. We had the foundation laid and most of the building put together. It was livable. We’d gained many new operatives thanks to Lily. She had the strangest crazy quality that made people want to follow her. If she had any interest in being a leader, she could take the world by storm. Many called her the Queen of the Pirates, though she did nothing to earn the title, it was out of sheer respect for those who met her and wished to follow her. Lily was too free of a spirit to be tied down by such a title.

“Where’s your cute little bride, Dragon?” Ivankov asked curiously upon his return. When he wasn’t here helping me with the new base of operations or formulating our plans for the future, he was at his home island Kamabakka Kingdom.

“She’s supposed to be resting but my guess is she’s playing with the children somewhere.” I shrugged as Ivankov looked to the newspaper atop my desk. It was open to an article released by the World Government concerning Lily. They were making her a top priority target wanting to capture her for public execution.

As if on cue, Lily burst through our temporary meeting room with a plethora of children at her heels all of them laughing and squealing obnoxiously as they ran around the room like mad. Ivankov and the few operatives in the room with me scrambled to secure maps and documents as Lily and the children scrambled about in an intense game of tag.

“Lily, can you please find somewhere else to ignore the doctor’s orders and play with the children?” I sighed as I lifted a map off a table as two small boys leapt atop it in an attempt to escape Lily who appeared to be it.

Her summery green eyes flooded with mischief and she flipped over the heads of the two boys atop the table landing swiftly beside me. I didn’t have a moment to react before she tackled me to the floor causing the map to go flying.

“Tag! You’re it!” She grinned from atop my stomach.

“Seems like an intense game of tag.” Ivankov snickered as he managed to catch the map I’d dropped.

“Lily, we are not playing tag, we have things to d-.”

“No tag backs.” She stuck her tongue out at me childishly before flipping to her feet and turning to the children with an exaggerated squeal, “RUN AWAY FROM THE EVIL DRAGON!”

The children all squealed loudly and ran out of the room screaming and shrieking in laughter. Lily scrambled after them with a giggle and paused in the doorway as she realized I was making no attempt to chase after them.

“I had a feeling you were going to be a sourpuss.” Mischief danced in her summery gaze. She held up a small leather-bound book, it was one of my journals with notes of priority missions we needed to get to that I was going to go over in our meeting now that Ivankov had arrived. “So, you’re not getting this back until you play tag with us.”

“Lily! Give it back, I don’t have time for games.”

“Make time.” She placed her hands on her hips and fixed me with a stern look.

“Lily, not now.” I groaned and extended my hand to her, “Return it.”

“Nope.” She disappeared in a flash with a maddening giggle.

Ivankov chuckled, “Perhaps it would go quicker if we all joined in.”

“This is ridiculous.” I grumbled in annoyance before clapping him on the back, “You can be it, I’m going to get my notes.” With that said I slipped out of the meeting room in search of Lily leaving Ivankov and the others staring after me in a daze. What was she up to? Did she not realize time was of the essence, there were too many lives to save, too many injustices to set right, we didn’t have time for games.

Lily’s melodic laughter rang through the halls echoing off the tarp covering each doorway in the midst of construction. “I said no tag backs.” She giggled. “Shouldn’t you be after the children?”

“I tagged Ivankov. Now please return my book.” I sighed as I scanned the barren hall trying to peer through the clear tarp in an attempt to find her.

“If you want it, you have to come and get it.” Her voice sounded like it was all around me. Where the hell was she hiding?

“Lily.” I groaned, “Please stop this nonsense, this is serious.”

“It is.” She agreed.

“Then why the hell are you interfering?”

She dropped from the unfinished ceiling above and landed swiftly behind me. Her arms snaked around my waist from behind and she stood on the tips of her toes to be able to whisper in my ear. A shiver rolled down my spine as she breathed softly on the back of my neck.

“You need to understand, no matter how amazing you are, you cannot save everyone. It is okay for you to take breaks, it is okay for you to find moments of happiness between saving the lives of the innocents of the world. If you focus too much on saving others and take no time for yourself, it will break you.” Her words shook me.

“Is this not what you wanted, Lily?” I asked her with a sigh, “I do not do anything at less than a hundred percent, I give everything my all.”

Her grip on me slackened, “You think I wanted this for you?” She asked me curiously as she took a step back.

I turned to her curiously and found a desolate look in her summery eyes. “Lily?”

“If I truly had my way, we’d leave this all behind, travel the world together and help those we meet along the way. I want us to have a happy life, to travel the world with our son…” She trailed off and averted her gaze as guilt wormed through her. “I know its selfish, but I only want for you and our son to be happy…I don’t care about anything else.”

I couldn’t bear to see the desolate look in her eyes or the guilt eating away at her. She was the most selfless girl I’d ever met, even her idea of selfishness was selfless, she didn’t want for her own happiness. Her eyes dulled and I felt my heart drop, I needed her to laugh and smile and be the crazy girl she always was.

“You know, I much prefer hide and seek to tag…” I said softly.

Her tear filled golden green eyes flicked upward meeting my gaze. She scanned my face intently her eyes desperately searching trying to discern if she’d disappointed me somehow. Sighing I placed my hands over my eyes and began to count aloud. A moment later her dainty arms encircled me and she buried her face in my chest.

“I don’t remember playing hide and seek like this as a child.” I chuckled only to cut off as her hand lightly caressed my cheek.

I uncovered my eyes and looked down at her curiously fearing my attempt to cheer her up had failed. Those breathtaking eyes like golden summer days ensnared me. She stood on tip toe and hooked her arm around my neck. Her petal soft lips brushed against mine as she pulled herself to my height. My breath hitched in my throat and I felt my heart flutter sporadically in my chest as I wound my arm around her slender waist to keep her upright. My free hand inched its way to the back of her neck as I kissed her back with a fire capturing her delicate petal soft lips.

We stood locked in a lover’s embrace for a long moment. In that timeless moment, I saw the life she wanted for us. I saw myself traveling the world with her at my side and a small wild boy with dark hair and Lily’s infectious smile. It’d be a lie if I said I didn’t want it but I knew what I had to do. Lily knew too or she’d never have opened my eyes to the truth.

Lily broke the kiss first and pulled away looking flushed and breathless. There was a vulnerability revealed in her bright eyes. I knew Lily was anything but weak and felt a sense of strength and pride that she was willing to allow herself to be vulnerable with me. She bit her lip looking as if she had something she wanted to say but didn’t know how it would be received. I’d never imagine the crazy girl capable of feeling nervous.

She lifted her gaze to mine and a splash of color stained her pale cheeks, “I love you, Dragon.”

My heart stuttered in my chest. I felt an immense sense of elation at her words and was stunned into silence. Her eyes searched my face desperately and I kicked myself as I noticed self-doubt creeping into her bright gaze. She turned to run thinking I’d reject her.

I caught her by the wrist and pulled her into my arms stealing her words of protest away with a kiss. “I love you, Lily.” I breathed as I held her against me, cradling her trembling form in my arms.


	11. Chapter 11

**~Briefly Dragon’s POV~**

“Dragon!” Ivankov barreled into my study in a panic, mascara streaking down his large face as he frantically waved a copy of the newspaper in his hands, “They’ve got Lily!” His eyes grew wide as he took in the current appearance of my study and another identical copy of the newspaper in his hand laying atop the only right side up piece of furniture in the study, my desk.

Books, papers, quill pens and vials of ink were all scattered across the room. Bookshelves had been split in half. It looked like a violent destructive force of nature had ransacked my study. The stubborn girl had left over a week ago, on her own, despite my attempts to reason with her. She thought something was wrong with her friend, the secret lover of Captain Roger. I couldn’t dissuade her. My father was the one who captured her.

They took her to Loguetown, she was to be executed in three days’ time. I should never have let her out of my sight. Rage and self-loathing burned inside of me. Why did I let her go? She’d just recovered after having been captured by my father such a short time ago.

“What are we going to do?” Ivankov asked me looking somewhat hopeless.

“Looks like I have to go save my bride.” I withdrew her vivre card from my breast pocket. It was smaller in size than it had been and looked brittle and frail. Lily was in bad shape. I’d allowed her to be captured. It was the thing she hated most in this world, to be a prisoner, shackled in a cage. How could I let her fall into such a state?

“I’m coming too!” Ivankov declared and scrambled to keep up with my angry strides.

“No. Stay here, get our plans set in motion. I’ll be back soon.”

**~Lily’s POV~**

My body screamed in protest as I struggled to lift myself up. The marines tasked with guarding me did not treat me gently. Several of my ribs were broken, my right shoulder was dislocated and my entire body was covered head to toe in bruises. They’d found a way to trick me, to trigger a vision making me believe they had discovered Captain Roger’s secret lover. It was just a conversation in an office, a staged conversation to lure me out of hiding. They knew nothing about Rogue. I’d fallen into their trap, so easily.

“Youko D Lily, I’d like a word.”

I struggled to turn my head to see who had approached. My eyes narrowed into a glare as I spotted Fleet Admiral Sengoku flanked by my father-in-law to be Monkey D Garp. “No.” I hissed as I staggered to my feet through sheer willpower. “That’s one. I have several more colorful ones I could share with you.” I smirked.

“Mind your manners!” One of the marines tasked with guarding me smacked a club against the thick bars of my cell trying to scare me.

I ran at the cell building up an immense amount of power in my left hand and swung with all my might expelling my aura from my body. My aura slipped through the cracks in my cell hitting all of them with enough force they all went flying backward. The aftershocks of my attack made me fall to my knees. I was too broken and beaten to do much else.

“What do you want from me?” I shot Sengoku a glare as he got to his feet and dusted himself off holding up his hand to halt the others from attacking.

“You don’t have to die today, Lily.” Sengoku stated calmly, “Agree to our terms, use your abilities for the good of the world.”

“That’s what I’m doing. So, am I free to go?” I scoffed.

“Come now Lily, be more cooperative. I take no joy in sending a young girl to her death. Reconsider.” Sengoku tried to reason with me.

“Why should I divulge the future to anyone who is knowingly and willingly sending an innocent to the executioner. You know I’ve done nothing wrong.” I said bitterly. “Though I shall give you a single vision.”

Sengoku stepped closer. “What is it?”

I looked to the guard who had tormented me over the past few days, “It concerns him.”

“W-what about me?” The guard asked shakily as he approached my cell.

“You will die screaming.” I smiled sweetly.

“You stupid witch!” The guard ran at my cell but paused with a gasp as Garp caught him by the shoulder.

“Enough of that. You’re dismissed.” Garp sent the guard away and turned his hard gaze on me, “Stubborn girl. My son would be distraught if you refused to help us and allowed yourself to be executed.”

I shot him a glare. “Fine, I shall share one other thing with you.”

Garp and Sengoku straightened up and exchanged wary looks.

“And that is?”

“Know this. I will not die today. I do not care what you do to me. One day in the future, I shall have a child. A beautiful baby boy who will take this world by storm. I can promise you this, if you or anyone else tries to harm my son, I will cease to be innocent, I will unleash hell upon any who dare to lay a hand on him. You will find, when it comes to protecting those I love, I am not merciful. That is all. I have nothing further to share and I don’t wish to speak with either of you any longer. Please leave me alone.” I closed my eyes and turned my back on them as I struggled to stay conscious.

“So be it.” Sengoku stormed out but Garp held back.

I could feel his gaze on my back, “What do you want?” I hissed at him angrily.

“You’re with child?”

“No.”

“You saw your son…Dragon’s son?”

“Yes.”

“Will he be like you?”

“No.” I clenched my fists at my sides and swung to my feet turning to shoot him a glare, “He will lead a very different life from me. My son will never know what it is to be a slave, my son will be free to do as he pleases forever and always.”

“Will he know me?” Garp asked softly and tears welled in my eyes as I thought back on the horrid vision of the last day I’d have with my son.

“You’ll see to that.” I said icily. “You’ll take him away from me and see to it that he knows nothing about me.” A single tear slipped from my hold, “And I will never forgive you.” A sob hitched in my throat, “Now leave me alone.”

I was left alone to dwell in darkness until it was time for the execution. Two guards dragged me from my cell and carried me between them to be paraded through the streets to the execution platform in the middle of town. There were people everywhere, marines were struggling to keep the peace. Civilians called out to my captors begging for my release, people who knew nothing about me. They were scared at what would happen if the ‘Queen of the Pirates’ was killed in their town fearful the pirates I was aligned with would strike.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a familiar head of crimson hair next to a splash of teal hair. Buggy and Shanks were here?! Why? Who else was here? They couldn’t try something here, there were too many innocents that could get caught up in the crossfire. I frantically scanned the crowd as I was dragged toward the execution platform. My eyes fell on a familiar brilliant blue gaze, Marco!

He met my eyes and I managed to mouth ‘Do Nothing’ before I lost sight of him. I clenched my fists hoping he got my message. If Marco was here, was Whitebeard here? Was Roger here? The guards holding me roughly dragged me up the steps of the platform before throwing me down aggressively. They secured my shackles to the platform and left me with the executioners.

I heard movement behind me as the executioners prepared their blades. Sengoku wasn’t even going to allow me the courtesy of having any last words. Was he afraid I’d get all the civilians to rally against them? My gaze flicked across the square and I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest as I spotted a cloaked figure standing atop the roof of the building directly across from me. Dragon?

As the executioners prepared to swing their blades, the civilians below screamed in protest. A flash of lightning ripped from the sky overhead and I closed my eyes as I felt strong arms encircle me and my shackles crumble to nothing. I wrapped my arms around my rescuer and the square fell into pure chaos. No one had seen a thing, I’d vanished in a single stroke of lightning. My body would not stop shaking. Though I knew he’d come for me, I was still scared, scared that someone would stop him, that I’d have died there chained up like a beast of burden and would never get to see my son.

Fresh tears streamed down my cheeks as I clung to Dragon desperately. “You saved me.” My voice shook.

“I’m sorry I let you be a prisoner again.” His voice sounded somewhat strained as he held me close.

We stood tucked away in a dark alley clinging desperately to one another. He gently rubbed my back careful not to disturb any of my wounds in an attempt to console me as I cried against him. I heard movement behind us.

“Dragon!” I panicked.

“Lily!” Two familiar voices sounded from behind me and I turned to look over my shoulder to find Buggy and Shanks running toward us.

“What are you idiots doing here?! It’s not safe!” I snapped.

“We couldn’t just let you die.” Buggy grumbled in a huff.

“I’d never forgive you two blockheads if you died trying to save me.” I choked as Dragon gently set me on my feet and moved to the end of the alley to check for marines. He smiled softly as Buggy and Shanks swept me into a hug and held me between them.

“What kind of friends would we be if we didn’t even try to help you?” Shanks asked softly.

“Lily!” Marco’s voice sounded from above as he dropped from the rooftop next to us in a flurry of blue and gold flames. “How did yo-?” His gaze flicked down the alley and his body tensed as he spotted Dragon. Did he recognize him from his days as a marine?

“Come on nutcase, we need to leave.” Dragon called to me, completely ignoring my companions.

“Lily, you know him?” Marco asked somewhat warily, “He’s a mari-.”

“He’s not anymore.” I caught Marco by the back of the shirt before he could do anything.

Marco turned to me as realization flooded into his deep blue eyes, “I see…” He caught my wrist in his hand and lightly pulled me closer to him wrapping me in his arms despite protests from Shanks and Buggy. A healing blue glow of light washed over us as Marco held me against him. I felt the wounds on my body slowly starting to mend, easing my pain. His devil fruit helped him expedite his own healing and could be used to heal others.

“Marco, is she alright?” Whitebeard’s booming voice sounded from the opposite end of the alley. 

I glanced over my shoulder and spotted Captain Whitebeard with Captain Roger in toe rounding the corner into our alley. Marco’s grip on me slackened as he turned to the approaching captains. The pain was nothing more than a dull ache. His devil fruit had helped mend my broken body leaving only a few bruises.

“She’ll be okay.” Marco noted as he released me from his hold.

“Why are you two here?” I asked the intimidating pair as they drew nearer.

Before either of them could respond, I sensed movement above me and leapt backward, shoving Marco out of the way as two marines dropped from the rooftop. Marco stumbled away from the force of my shove and I dodged the first marine as he swung a sword at me before catching the wrist of the other marine halting his attack with one hand. I stepped forward and delivered a swift uppercut using my haki to send him flying.

“Lily!” Buggy cried from behind me, his voice getting closer, I spun around preparing to deflect my attacker only to find Buggy trying to dive in front of me.

“Buggy! No!” I panicked as the blade sliced clean through his neck.

Buggy hit the ground, his head landing a few paces away from his body. Something inside of me snapped and I lunged at the marine with an enraged shriek. Concentrating my haki into my fists I swung at him with all my might. He managed to dodge and falter backward away from my strikes until he backed himself into the alley. His eyes grew wide as he realized his predicament.

“Lily!” Roger called out to me before I could strike the cornered marine knowing my explosive haki would have ruptured his internal organs had I struck him.

I hesitated and turned to find Buggy back on his feet looking shell shocked. How was that possible? “Buggy? You’re okay?” My voice cracked as I looked at the teal haired teen with the bright red nose. He didn’t have a scratch on him.

The marine behind me made a move and I cringed as I felt something sharp pierce through my back and I gasped as his blade impaled me and ripped through my chest just below my collarbone, above my heart.

“LILY!” Everyone panicked, I could hear Dragon’s voice above the others and felt a strong wind tear through the alley as my body fell away from my attacker and I struggled to catch myself. I managed to fall to my hands and knees as I felt blood begin to seep from the wound around the blade.

Blood splashed to the ground as I managed to catch myself with my hands. I could feel more blood bubbling up in my throat and expelled it from my mouth with a cough trying not to choke on it. Thunder roared overhead and I let out a yelp as lightning struck the ground behind me.

The alley turned into a natural disaster in the next moment as a hellacious storm tore through the alley threatening to maim everyone present. It seemed like Dragon had lost control of himself. Marco, Shanks and Buggy managed to get me away and pull the blade from my back. Healing blue and gold flames swept around me as Marco attempted to heal me a second time.

“Marco?” Whitebeard’s voice roared over the screeching winds as he and Captain Roger guarded the entrance to the alley keeping civilians and marines back.

“She’s losing too much blood!” Marco managed to yell back. He was struggling to heal me. The blade must have hit an organ.

“Lily! You need to get your fiancé under control!” Roger yelled struggling to be heard over the hellacious storm.

Buggy and Shanks stared at Dragon in awe. More marines had appeared once the storm begun and were getting tossed about like puppets in the raging winds. He really had lost control, he was attacking in a blind fury. Because of me?

“Dragon!” I yelled straining to be heard over the shrieking winds he’d conjured.

He couldn’t hear me.

“Let go.” I attempted to break from Marco’s hold.

“You’re too injured!” Marco yelled back.

A swirling funnel cloud dropped from the black sky. “We’re all dead if that touches down!” I snapped back as I pointed to the giant funnel cloud heading straight for us.

Marco released me from his hold and I ran to Dragon fighting my way through the hellacious wind. I managed to break through the swirling vortex of wind and throw my arms around him.

“Dragon! Stop!” I cried desperately.

Clarity filled his dark eyes and the storm died in an instant. Everything was calm, the rain, wind and thunder stopped and the black clouds in the sky vanished in an instant. He caught me in his arms and swept me off my feet.

“Are you alright?” He asked me worried.

“I’ll live.” I smiled softly as I dropped my head onto his shoulder relaxing in his arms. “Weren’t we supposed to be fleeing?”

Dragon hesitated as if he were suddenly struck with an idea, “What if we got married instead?”

My cheeks flushed scarlet at this, “What?! Did you hit your head?”

“I’m sure one of them would gladly do the honors.” He nodded his head in Whitebeard and Roger’s direction.

“You’re serious?” My heart fluttered unsteadily in my chest.

Dragon nodded.

I couldn’t help but feel somewhat giddy at this. “You do realize that means you’re stuck with me, for life, right?”

“I had the strangest feeling I’d never be rid of you the moment I first laid eyes on you.” Dragon teased me.

“Captain!” I called and couldn’t help but grin as they both turned to us. “Marry us.”

“What?!” Marco, Shanks and Buggy panicked. “Now?!”

“No better time than fleeing for our lives.” I giggled.

“You still need medical attention!” Marco snapped at me. “You were just stabbed, remember?!”

“Calm down, Pineapple Head.” I huffed, “You’re bringing down the mood.”

“Watch it, brat.” Marco folded his arms across his chest in an intimidating fashion.

“What do you say, Garp, have time for a wedding?” Roger chuckled as he glanced upward to the rooftop above us.

Dragon tensed for a moment as he met his father’s gaze. How long had Garp been looking down on us from above?

“Make it a quick one.” Garp sighed while trying to hide the smile lighting up his face.

Whitebeard begrudgingly agreed to officiate our wedding on the run. Captain Roger wanted to be the one to give me away. Garp was pretending to apprehend us keeping close enough to be apart of our hurried ceremony as we all made our escape to the harbor. It was pure chaos as we all tried to dodge gunfire, cannon fire and attacking marines as we went but it was perfect.

Once we reached the harbor, Whitebeard announced us husband and wife. Dragon kissed me beneath a blanket of smoke from the guns and cannons going off all around us. We disappeared in a flash of lightning making our escape as husband and wife.


	12. Chapter 12

**~Dragon’s POV~**

We made it safely back to the island where our headquarters was finishing up renovations. I felt somewhat awkward returning back to work after exchanging vows and taking Lily as my wife. She was rarely honest or forthcoming with her true inner feelings making it impossible to tell how she felt. Would she be upset if we didn’t do the traditional thing that most newlyweds did and take a trip? There was so much to do, I didn’t think we could afford to take any further breaks and in her current medical condition, I wasn’t sure it was such a good idea for her to move around too much.

She must have been more injured than I’d originally thought as she didn’t protest when I told her she was restricted to bedrest. This worried me. Halfway through the day as I was talking with various officers about what needed to be done and our next course of action, I noticed several people slowly start to go missing. By dinner time, I was completely alone in the strategy room. Where did everyone go?

Deciding it was time to check on Lily and thinking I might find some of my men along the way, I headed off in the direction of our bedroom. I saw no sign of anyone along the way, headquarters was eerily quiet. As I drew nearer to our room, I heard the sound of voices and laughter. It sounded like there was a party in our bedroom.

I pushed open the door and shook my head, everyone who’d gone missing throughout the day was piled into our bedroom sitting around the bed listening to Lily tell stories, about me. My face reddened at this, “What’s going on here?!”

Everyone jumped, save for Lily who just kept prattling on. Her bright summery green eyes flicked in my direction and a coy smile twisted onto her lips. She knew I was going to barge in and didn’t care in the slightest.

“Lily was just recounting your beautiful love story.” Ivankov sniffled dramatically and wiped at his eyes.

“I haven’t even got to the wedding ceremony yet!” Lily giggled.

“Was it romantic?” Ivankov asked her with a wink.

“The most romantic.” She grinned.

I cleared my throat from the doorway as everyone slowly began to forget my presence, “You’re supposed to be resting, Lily.”

“I AM resting, see, I’m in bed.” She indicated her current set up, blankets piled on top of her and pillows around her keeping her propped up and comfortable.

“This might be a little too much excitement while you’re recovering.” I frowned.

“But they all wanted to hear about it.” She folded her arms in front of her chest but winced at the effort. She was still in a lot of pain.

“Fine, but after you’re done everyone needs to get back to work and you need to get back to resting.” I sighed and took up my post at the door.

Lily launched into a dramatic retelling of the day’s events of our wedding starting with her near execution and the run in with Whitebeard and Gol D. Roger. “Even the marines were happy to celebrate our love, they sent us off with a military salute with cannon fire and gunfire.”

“No, they were just shooting at us.” I shook my head causing a few people to chuckle.

“I think they were supporting our marriage.” Lily giggled.

“Believe what you want, nutcase.” I shrugged.

After Lily finished her dramatic retelling of our unconventional wedding everyone cheered. They all offered us their congratulations before going back to work. Once everyone had left, I turned to Lily. She looked so small and fragile wrapped in bandages and cocooned in blankets in the giant bed.

I walked across the room and sat on the edge of the bed fixing her with what I hoped was a stern look. She cracked a smile. “Don’t push yourself too much, you were stabbed remember.”

Lily giggled at this, “It’s not a real wedding unless there’s at least one stabbing.”

“Let’s revisit your wedding standards another time.” I chuckled as I checked her bandages to make sure she hadn’t aggravated her healing wound with all the excitement. Her smile suddenly fell as a daze look crossed her face for a moment before a single tear slipped down her pale cheek. “Lily?” I caught the single tear that had fallen on my index finger. She disappeared in a vision. “What did you see?”

She blinked a few times as she came back and bit her lip, “Captain Roger…he gave himself up…so the marines wouldn’t pursue us…”

“What?” I gaped, “Why would he do that?”

Lily struggled for composure, “He’s sick…he’s already dying so he thinks it doesn’t matter…”

I gently wrapped her in my arms. “Do you want to save him?”

“He told me not to.” She cried.

I frowned at this as I struggled to keep hold of her trembling form. Captain Roger knew about her ability, it wouldn’t be completely out of the realm of possibility that he would talk to her when things he expected to make a big impact happened. I didn’t have to ask her what would happen, I already knew the answer. He was the King of the Pirates, he’d been skipping dates with the executioner for years, they’d want to make a big public showing. They wanted to put an end to the age of pirates for so long. Their main goal was to take down the King and Queen of Pirates. That meant Lily was next.

My heart clenched at the thought. I’d come close to losing her too many times already. “Lily…”

She turned her tear filled summery green eyes to me and looked up at me curiously, “What?”

“I don’t think you’re going to like what I have to say.” I grimaced. “I think I need to get you somewhere safe…make a safe place for you, somewhere nobody else can find you.”

A look of panic crossed her face, “No…” more tears spilled down her cheeks. “I’ve seen it, it’s lonely and awful and I don’t want to be alone.”

“Alright, I’m sorry. It’ll be a last resort.” I tried to reassure her, but it was hopeless. She’d already seen it, it was going to happen one day.

She reluctantly agreed, though it was probably just to appease me and make me feel less guilty about it. The desolate look in her usually bright summery green eyes was enough to wound me. I had to do something to bring back her radiant smile, to hear her heavenly laughter.

“What’s our son’s name?” I asked her curiously. Our son was the only topic that never failed to cheer her up.

Her eyes lit up. “What?”

“You know what it is, right?” I mused.

She smiled, “I do.”

“So, what is it?” I smirked.

“Luffy.”

I chuckled, “That sounds silly.”

“It’s perfect.” Lily jabbed me in the ribs with her finger, “Monkey D Luffy…King of the Pirates.” She smiled proudly.

“If he takes after his mother and gets her uncanny ability to befriend anyone or anything, then he won’t have any problem getting that title.” I chuckled.

Lily wiped away the tears in her eyes and grinned.

“So, what does he get from me?” I pondered.

“Your ability to eat three times your weight in food without keeling over.” Lily shrugged.

“How on earth would you know about that?” I frowned, I’d never eaten like that in front of her.

She tapped her temple with a mischievous smile, “I know everything.”

I rolled my eyes at this, “You’re unbelievable, nutcase.” Her smile started to fall again as her mind began to wander back to Captain Roger. “You know, maybe Monkey D. Luffy isn’t such a bad name…it has a nice ring to it.”

Lily giggled at this and wound her arms around my neck, “I knew you’d love it.”

I kissed the top of her head, “I love you.” Worry began to worm through me at the thought of her being captured again. “Get some rest.”

Reluctantly she did as I bid, too tired to fight with me. I tucked her in and left the bedroom in search of Ivankov. He was in the strategy room pouring over some of the maps I’d marked. His painted lips pulled into a smile.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” It was still hard to believe I’d married Lily. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Of course, is it a wedding present for your cute little bride?” Ivankov winked.

“Not quite…its more like a back up plan…just in case…I’d like to find Lily a safe haven of some kind that I can take her to, if things get hectic. An island that cannot be found by a log pose would be ideal.”

Ivankov frowned at this, “Does Lily know about this?”

“She’s seen it in a vision, I’d really like it to be a last resort measure for her safety.”

“If she’s seen it, then that means it was utilized.” Ivankov grimaced. “I’ll see what I can find.” He straightened himself up before fixing me with a stern look.

“What?” I looked around to see if he’d been meaning to glare at someone else. “What did I do?”

“You just got married, you should be with your wife.” He jabbed at me.

“She’s sleeping and I have work to do.” I sighed.

His glare intensified. “Well, when your cute little bride is healed, you should take her on a romantic outing since you’ve cheated her out of a honeymoon.”

I chuckled. “I might need help planning such a thing.”

Ivankov’s eyes lit up, “I’ll take care of everything!”

“No, no, no, just help, don’t take over.” I corrected him with a laugh not sure I wanted to see the kind of romantic outing he’d plan. There would be lace everywhere.


	13. Chapter 13

~Lily’s POV~

**_Future Flashback??? Haha what even do we call that, a future event presenting itself in a dream like vision, reminiscent of a flashback/memory (someone on Wattpad said it's called a Flash Forward but that just sounds terrible haha):_ **

_I sat alone in the cabin Dragon had built for me on my secluded island. The marines were relentlessly trying to find me, after the execution of The King of the Pirates didn’t go as planned, his final words inspiring many others to take to the sea and live a life free. The pirate age was growing stronger than ever before. They seemed to think if they toppled the last of pirate royalty, they’d win._

_Looking at the clock on the wall, I got up from the rocking chair I’d been sitting at as I tried, unsuccessfully, to knit a baby blanket for Luffy. It turned out looking like a horribly lumpy scarf. It was about time; my visions were never wrong. I headed for the front door and pulled it open to find a girl of eight with shoulder length black as night hair and bright light blue eyes looking a little beat up and scrawny in the shallows. The raft she was on appeared to be sinking. There were two thick bumpers of ice on either side of the raft creating a path right to my front door, Aokiji. He and Dragon had been close once and he felt he owed a great debt to Garp. He knew of my location but vowed never to disclose that information to anyone marine, pirate or otherwise._

_I darted forward and dove into the water as her raft finally went down. She kicked and flailed as she hit the water but didn’t appear to have much strength left. I got to her before she could go under and kept her afloat._

_“You’re safe now, Robin.” I smiled down at her as I paddled us to shore._

_She stared up at me warily, “How do you know my name?” Her voice was so soft and weak from the days she’d spent crying on her journey here to my doorstep._

_I set her on her feet once we got to shore. She took a few hurried steps away from me. Already so mistrusting, I didn’t blame her, not after what had happened to her home. “Come inside for dinner and I’ll tell you a story.” I extended my hand to her._

_She didn’t appear to trust me but looked around the small island and realized my house was the only one on it. Reluctantly she placed her hand in mine and followed me into the house. Her gaze fell on a few bookcases in the corner, “Did you know my mother, is that how you knew my name?”_

_“No, I’m sorry, I never met her.” I smiled somberly as I headed to the kitchen to get her a hot meal._

_She was hesitant and wary of me but reluctantly sat at the table and ate the food I provided her as her stomach grumbled so loudly, I thought passing ships might hear it. I brought her a second helping and a third before she was finally full and ready to pass out. “Who are you?”_

_“My name is Lily…I have visions that show me the future…I knew you were coming and I’ve had visions of your future, that is how I knew your name.” I smiled._

_She frowned at this, not believing a word I said._

_I chuckled, “Allow me to tell you a story about the most wonderful, silly and loyal Pirate Captain to ever exist, his name is Luffy.”_

I woke from the dream with a start. There was my reason to allow Dragon to seclude me to an island for my safety. A little girl, named Robin, needed my help. The night before, Dragon informed me we were going to be going out for the day, now that I was all healed. After that vision, I’d have to tell him I reconsidered the idea about him whisking me away for my safety. It needed to happen, Robin was going to be one of Luffy’s treasured friends, I had to help her.

Dragon seemed nervous, which wasn’t like him at all. Ivankov must have helped him set up something romantic for the day. After I’d bathed and gotten dressed in the morning, he snuck up behind me with a blindfold trying to be spontaneous, romantic and stealthy, but failing horribly at the stealthy part.

“What are you doing?” I mused as he tied the blindfold over my eyes.

“Trying to surprise you.” He chuckled.

“Feels more like an abduction.” I snickered, “Carry on.”

Dragon groaned, “It’s not an abduction.”

“Whatever you say.” I giggled as he swept me off my feet. “Why do I have to be blindfolded now? I know what headquarters looks like.”

“I guess there wasn’t really any reason to blindfold you yet, but it’s done.” He smirked as he carried me out into the desert heat.

“Where are we going?” I asked wondering if he’d tell me.

“I thought you knew everything.” He teased me.

I folded my arms across my chest and pouted, “No fair!”

A strong gust of wind enveloped us and I clung to him with a squeak as I felt us begin to move. Awhile later we came to a stop and Dragon shifted me in his arms before placing me on something satin smooth and cool to the touch. He removed the blindfold and I was momentarily blinded by the change from black to blinding hot sunlight.

Once my eyes adjusted, I found myself beneath a giant tent covered in various silken pillows, cushions and blankets in an array of colors. There were a few tables off to the side with a three-tiered serving tray filled with various fresh fruits another with pastries and various other treats. Out of the back-tent flap I spotted a sparkling oasis surrounded by lush green foliage and crystal-clear water. It was like a desert paradise.

I couldn’t help but smile, it looked like it had taken a lot of effort. “What’s all this?” I looked over to Dragon standing shyly near the tent flap he’d brought me in through.

“I’ve been too busy to take you on a proper honeymoon.” His cheeks reddened and he averted his gaze.

My heart fluttered in my chest as I saw his adorably flustered face. I looked around and picked up on all the delicate feminine touches in our desert paradise escape and giggled, “Iva-chan helped you, right?”

His face turned a bright shade of scarlet, “Y-yes.”

“If you’d planned it, it would have been a much smaller tent and military rations…” I teased him causing his face to redden.

“And a piece of cake…”

I couldn’t help but laugh at this as I ran to him and threw my arms around him. “You’re the best.”

He smiled down at me as he caught me in his arms. “Try and keep that in mind when I’m too busy with work and inevitably end up neglecting you.” His smile fell slightly and I shook my head at him.

“It’s okay. I’ll see it coming.” I giggled. “I’ll just steal your plans again so you have to pay attention to me.”

Dragon groaned at this, “What am I going to do with you?”

“Feed me sweet things and swim with me in the oasis…oh…right…you can’t do that.” I frowned.

“I’ll just stay where it’s shallow.” He captured my lips in a sweet kiss.

“I promise I won’t let you drown.” I beamed as I dragged him off toward the oasis.

“Very reassuring.” He noted with a faint hint of sarcasm.

The water was crystal clear and blissfully cool, a welcome relief to the hot desert air. I kicked off my sandals and peeled off my plain white sundress. Dragon’s cheeks turned an even deeper shade of scarlet and he bashfully looked away as I stripped.

“What are you doing?” I giggled.

“N-nothing.”

“You’ve already seen me naked before.” I teased him with a sultry wink, “And besides, we’re married now, so it’s okay if you want to ogle, I don’t mind.”

He choked on a laugh, “You really are one of a kind, Lily.”

I pried his hands away from his eyes and giggled as his dark eyes grew wide as he took in my naked appearance. “Shy?”

“Lily!” He snapped embarrassed and nearly fell backward causing me to laugh hysterically.

“Your face is so red!” I nearly doubled over I was laughing so hard.

“You’re such a nuisance.” He sighed and caught me lightly by the arm as my laughing fit subsided.

Once he’d finally gotten over his embarrassment, I managed to disrobe him and I enjoyed a nice relaxing swim as Dragon waded in the shallows watching me cut through the water like a knife. Swimming had always calmed me down. We enjoyed a nice long soak in the oasis before escaping to our tent for some refreshing fruit and pastries. It was a nice romantic getaway. After a long fun day of romance and passion we snuggled under the starry sky next to a small campfire. The desert tended to get cold at night.

“Dragon?”

“Hm?”

“I had a vision…we need to find my private island soon and get it up and running.”

“You’ve changed your mind on the matter?” He looked down at me curiously, “Because of your vision?”

I nodded.

“Alright…do you know where it is?”

“I’ll show you, tomorrow.” A chill ran down my spine and he adjusted his grip on me holding me closer. “…Dragon?”

“What is it?”

“Promise you’ll visit me regularly…”

He tightened his grip on me, “It won’t be a permanent stay, and I’ll visit as often as I can.” He vowed before capturing my lips in a sweet kiss. “I promise.”

I knew he meant well, but despite his reassurances, almost all the visions I had of myself in the future, were on that island save for the one vision I had of going into labor while under fire. Tears threatened to well in my eyes as I saw a brief vision of Luffy’s grinning face flash across my mind’s eye, I never had visions of myself with my son with the exception of the day Garp took him away from me. Dragon noticed the desolate look in my eyes and frowned.

“You sure this is what you want, Lily?” He kissed the top of my head.

I looked up at him and felt my heart swell in my chest. “You and Luffy are worth every bit of pain, suffering and loneliness I’ll ever have to endure. You’re both meant to change the world, I’m just here to support you both behind the scenes.”

“That sounds incredibly lonely.” Dragon’s face clouded with guilt.

I entwined my arms around his strong neck and kissed him deep with a fire I wasn’t aware I possessed. If it were for him, I could endure anything. He was my freedom, my light, and my rock. “I’m sure you’ll find some way to make it up to me when you come visit me.” I teased him with a wink and giggled as his face flushed a deep shade of scarlet.

“I could start now.” His face reddened more at his bold words as he got to his feet keeping me cradled against him and carried me back to the tent.


	14. Chapter 14

**~Lily’s POV~**

**Future Flashback??? I feel like that’s what I’m going to be calling them haha!**

_Dragon wasn’t happy about me leaving my island, but I’d seen one of Luffy’s future allies who needed my help in a vision, and I had to help him. I took to the sea in a tiny vessel and soon found myself on an island in the North Blue. Not long after I’d docked, a child of about ten, wearing a snow leopard print hat over a head of dark hair, burst from the tree line of the island. He was bruised and bloody his body littered with various scrapes as he’d fled through the forest to escape his pursuers. His wild steel eyes widened as he spotted me._

_“Hello, little Law.” I greeted him with a smile and a casual wave._

_“How do yo—?” He gaped at me for a moment before remembering he was being chased, “get out of the way!”_

_Two large men wearing ridiculous attire each with an eerie looking smiley face tattooed on their necks burst out of the tree line after the boy. I sighed and lunged toward them, “we were in the middle of introductions, don’t interrupt!” I swung at them with my fist and expelled my explosive haki toward them. The two burly men went flying back into the forest, all the trees in my line of fire cracked apart and debris went flying everywhere from the shockwave._

_The bloodied child stared at me with wide eyes as I pretended to dust myself off and turned to him with a sweet smile. “Who are you?” he asked warily._

_I smiled and extended my hand to him in greeting, “my name is Lily, and I have an amazing story to tell you on our trip.”_

_He looked to my small boat and my open palm somewhat warily before his gaze flicked to the amount of destruction I caused. Reluctantly he placed his hand in mine, deciding he’d place his trust in me to get him away from those who were pursuing him._

_“Don’t worry, you won’t have to deal with them for at least a decade.” I offered him another smile as I led him to my boat. I retrieved a first aid kit from the tiny cabin of the boat and tended to his wounds before setting sail._

_“Where are we going?” He asked after a long moment. He resorted to sitting as far as he could away from me, not trusting me in the slightest._

_“Do you like bears?” I asked him with a giggle._

_“Bears?” He frowned._

_“Talking bears to be more exact.” I smiled._

_He frowned again, “are you alright in the head, lady?”_

_“Who can say.” I giggled. “I’m taking you somewhere where I think you’ll make friends.”_

_“Friends?” He frowned again._

_“Yep.” I smiled as I sat down beside him, “now, as promised, the most magical story about the most amazing pirate who will ever live.”_

_“Great.” The boy rolled his steel grey eyes but I thought I saw a faint trace of a smile tug at the corners of his lips as he hesitantly sat beside me to listen to my tale._

I woke from my vision with a smile glad that I’d one day be able to help one of Luffy’s valued allies. Dragon rolled over in his sleep next to me and my smile grew as he wrapped me in his arms. His hand unconsciously rested on my swollen abdomen and I felt Luffy give a little kick. Tears welled in my eyes as I thought about our family being ripped apart. It wouldn’t be long…

Dragon stirred awake as Luffy kicked at his hand a little more aggressively as I began to cry. He sat up groggily and looked down at me. His dark eyes widened as he noticed the tears in my eyes.

“Lily? What’s wrong?” His deep voice was laced with worry.

“I don’t want to lose you two.” I choked.

Dragon pulled me into his arms and cradled me against him as I turned into a blubbering mess. He wanted to tell me I wasn’t going to but, he was starting to accept my visions and knew it would happen and he wouldn’t be able to console me. He kissed the top of my head, “I’m sorry.”

I wrapped my arms around him as he picked me up and carried me out of the bedroom and into the small kitchen of my secluded island home. He set me down atop the counter and went to make some calming tea. There was a solemn air about him as he brewed the tea with his back to me.

“Dragon?”

“I hate leaving you here.” He turned to me with a pained look on his face. “I feel incomplete without you by my side, but I don’t want you falling into the wrong hands. The World Government is desperate to execute you, so many of Roger’s rivals want your head to prove they can take down pirate royalty…” He clenched his fists. “I’m not confident I’m strong enough to keep you safe…I promise you, I will get stronger, I won’t stop until I am strong enough to always keep you safe and maybe one day when I achieve that goal, the three of us can be a real family.”

“Five.” Lily corrected me.

“F-Five?! You’re having triplets?” Dragon nearly fell over.

I giggled softly, “no silly, Luffy will have two older brothers.”

Dragon frowned trying to work out the math and struggling with it. He gave up with a sigh and rubbed his temples, “enlighten me, nutcase.”

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” I smiled as I rested my hand on my belly and felt Luffy moving about. He was wide awake and apparently hungry as he kept kicking at my stomach. Fondly, I thought of the two boys who had taken Luffy under their wing in my visions, Ace and Sabo. Ace, being the child of Rogue and Roger was my godson, it was Rogue’s last wish. Though Garp saw fit to intervene, and took him away to be raised elsewhere. 

“You alright?” Dragon asked me curiously as he noticed my slight grimace as Luffy punched my stomach.

“I think Luffy is hungry.”

Dragon smiled, “meat?”

I couldn’t help but giggle in response, “that’s almost all he ever wants… meat and apples.”

Dragon set the tea next to me on the counter and set to work preparing a midnight feast for me and Luffy. As soon as the smell of cooking meat permeated the room, Luffy began to calm down. He was practically buzzing with excitement. 

Dragon set the small dining table and lit some candles in an attempt to make our midnight dinner a little more romantic. My heart swelled at his efforts and I couldn’t help but smile at our midnight candlelit dinner.

He helped me to the table and placed a plate piled high with meat in front of me and a small bowl with apple slices. Luffy rolled around excitedly in the womb and I giggled again. Dragon smiled as he stopped by my seat to place my tea cup on the table. He placed a hand on my tummy and his smile grew as Luffy kicked him somewhat aggressively as if to tell him to get away from his meat.

He kissed the top of my head before taking his seat. “Our child already has strange dietary habits.” He noted with a smile as he sipped at his tea.

“He’s not strange! He’s the most perfect thing to ever exist!” I yelled at him between mouthfuls causing him to chuckle.

“There’s the nutcase I know and love.” He smirked and I felt my cheeks flush with heat. He’d said it intentionally to get a rise out of me.


	15. Chapter 15

~Lily’s POV~

I woke with a start as it suddenly felt as if Luffy had kicked my ribcage. I placed my hand on my swollen belly and spoke to him softly as I sat up in bed, “Mommy’s awake, what is it?” I rubbed my belly. He started to calm and I couldn’t help but smile.

Dragon had to leave for a short time but promised he’d be back before I had to deliver. It was getting closer and I was growing more worried. I’d seen myself going into labor as Dragon and I were escaping under heavy fire. As I slowly shuffled to the kitchen rubbing my aching lower back, I was struck with a vision. A gasp escaped me and I reached out and caught the edge of the kitchen counter to keep myself upright as the vision nearly knocked me on my ass.

_Sengoku was sitting at his desk in his office, there was a newspaper with today’s date on it sitting atop his desk. Garp was sitting across from him looking displeased about something and as if he were there begrudgingly. There were a few other higher-ranking officers. Sengoku began to speak, it sounded almost forced and robotic._

_“Dragon was captured this morning; he’s currently being transported to a small island under our control. It’s a small detail so as not to draw too much public attention.” He pointed to a location on a map laid out atop his desk._

_“We shouldn’t discuss this for too long in case the Queen of the Pirates finds out.” Another of the men spoke up stiffly. It almost sounded like they were reading a script._

_“This is ridiculous.” Garp growled._

The vision faded. It seemed like a trap but there was a part of me that worried Dragon could be in danger. He was running late, Luffy would be here any day now, he should have returned already. Panicked, I raced out of my cottage and onto the beach. Dragon had left me a small vessel for emergencies.

I paused and placed my hand on my belly. “Luffy…I think it might be a trap…but I’m worried…he’s late…what if something happened to him…my visions have been sporadic ever since I got pregnant with you…I don’t know if I can trust them…” Tears welled in my eyes as I envisioned Dragon being tortured and executed in horrible ways. “I think I have to go.”

Luffy kicked.

I gently rubbed my belly. “Let’s go save Daddy.” I hopped into the vessel and set sail in the direction of the island Sengoku had pointed to on his map.

It took nearly a day to get to the island. I arrived late in the evening and tied my boat off to what appeared to be an abandoned rickety dock on the uninhabited side of the small island. The pain in my lower back had gotten worse from the uncomfortable trip. I carefully crossed the rickety dock to the shore and retrieved Dragon’s vivre card from my pocket. It moved slowly in the direction ahead of me but it looked to be solid and intact. He was safe, for now.

I slowly made my way up the rocky slope to get a better view of the island. As I was about to reach the top, panting and gasping for breath as I’d become winded quite quickly thanks to Luffy sapping most of my strength and energy, a hand encircled my wrist. I let out a gasp and looked up. I spotted Garp at the top of the rocky slope holding onto my wrist.

Before I could try to pull away, he lifted me with ease, holding me up by my wrist so that I was dangling over the edge of the rocky slopes. If he were to drop me, I’d fall to my death! His gaze fell on my swollen belly and his eyes grew wide.

“You’re pregnant.” He set me on solid ground at his side. He appeared to be alone. His eyes never left my plump belly.

Still winded from my climb, I slipped to my knees and tried to catch my breath. “Dragon, he’s not here, is he?”

Garp shook his head, “I thought for sure you’d be able to see through such a trap.”

“Shut up, Luffy interferes with my visions, they’re more sporadic and harder to piece together.” I snapped at him as tears welled in my eyes.

“I’d imagine the hormones aren’t helping either.” He pointed as he extended a hand to help me to my feet. “Come on, Lily.”

I swatted his hand away, “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“I’ll take you to your ship, leave, quickly.” Garp looked so conflicted.

I stared up at him in awe, “what?”

“I still think you’re a witch who cast a spell on my son, but I don’t wish you any harm and I certainly don’t want to see any harm come to my grandson, especially when there’s still a chance I can set him on the right path.” He extended his hand to me once more.

Shakily, I accepted his hand and let him help me to my feet. He placed his other arm around my waist to offer me support as he steered me safely toward a path. “My son will choose his own path.” I warned him. “No matter what you do, he will follow his heart.”

Garp frowned. “Why couldn’t you have taken the deal? Why not use your gift for the good of the world, work with us, not against us…Dragon could make a difference in the world, he’d be an Admiral by now, he could do great things.”

“He is already doing great things; he’s helping so many people.” I protested.

There were tears in Garp’s eyes, “you’ve ripped my family apart, little witch.”

“Blame me, for your own shortcomings, if you must. You can still be a part of this family, we never said we wouldn’t accept you, you could join us, help us change the world.” I pointed.

“There is an order to things, a natural order that you are defying.” He growled.

“The natural order is wrong, the order you believe in saw me as a slave and had no qualms with it. How can you possibly believe a system that supports slavery or at the very least ignores it, is just?” I challenged him.

“It’s something that needs to be changed, the right way, from the inside.” His voice faltered. He paused for a moment and shook his head as if to shake something off before looking at me with a stern look of determination, “I can see how you got into his head, using your feminine wiles and your pretty words to trick him, mislead him and set him on this wretched path. You’re a poison to this family, Lily.”

A single tear slipped from my hold. Luffy became restless and began to kick frantically as more tears began to stream down my cheeks. I wiped away my tears and shrugged away from him. “Believe whatever you wish, continue being blind.” I turned on him and my eyes narrowed into a glare. “You’ll be in for a rude awakening later.” I made a move to storm away from him only to rapidly step back as I had a brief glimpse of a vision of a marine jumping out of the tree line to capture me.

A man in a marine uniform leapt out of the tree line, his arms reached out to grapple me and I slipped from his grasp just in time. I swung my fist at him expelling an explosive force from my hand sending him flying back into the trees. Garp looked surprised to see the marine and reached out to catch me before the man could recover and try to capture me again.

“Sakazuki?” Garp questioned the younger male as he placed a hand on my shoulder keeping me in place.

“The prisoner was going to escape.” The tall muscular man recovered quickly and approached us scowling in my direction. Was this all planned, did Garp lie and trick me into believing that he was really going to let me go?

I glanced over my shoulder at Garp and knew that wasn’t the case. He looked genuinely surprised to see this man here. He gave my shoulder a squeeze. “She wasn’t.” He frowned before motioning to my belly, “even if she were, she’s not making it far in her current condition.”

The newcomer’s dark eyes narrowed as he looked to my plump belly. He chose to drop the subject and cleared his throat, “I’ll help you escort her.” He had a pair of manacles and a blindfold at his waist and reached for them.

I tensed.

“I don’t think those will be necessary.” Garp grumbled and tightened his grip on my shoulder partially keeping me upright.

“Standard procedure for criminals, she doesn’t get special treatment.” He took a step toward me.

I swung my fist but for some reason, I couldn’t use my Haki, nothing happened. The pain in my lower back suddenly became unbearable, I almost dropped to the ground. A soft gasp of pain escaped me and I reached back to place a hand over the spot the pain was radiating from. My knees weakened as the pain intensified, I felt pressure and tightness in my pelvic region and felt all the color drain from my face as I realized they were contractions. No! No! No! I couldn’t go into labor here and now. More tears streamed down my cheeks, I had to get away.

Garp, realizing what was happening, lifted me into his arms. “Not the manacles, she’s in labor.”

Sakazuki’s eyes darkened but he said nothing. He approached me and placed the blindfold over my eyes. I was in too much pain to do much to stop him. This contraction was lasting longer than the previous ones.

“N-no.” I protested meekly as Garp carried me along after Sakazuki.

Once the pain subsided, I tried to break free, but Garp was ready and now that he had company, he had no plans of letting me free. Panic settled in. I had to get away! Not long after we started down the path leading further inland, I was hit with another wave of pain radiating from my lower back. A soft cry of pain escaped me. I placed my hand on my belly as I felt Luffy shift inside the womb.

Not yet.

Garp kept a secure hold on me, “we need to get her to a medic, fast.”

Sakazuki didn’t respond. I could sense his feelings on the matter, he thought it would be better if we didn’t get to a medic, he didn’t think my child should be brought into this world. I held my hands protectively in front of my stomach.

We didn’t make it very far before I heard a familiar voice call out, “it’d be in your best interest to return my wife to me.” Thunder boomed overhead.

“Dragon!” I cried, though I couldn’t see anything with the blindfold over my eyes.

“Two birds with one trap.” Sakazuki’s smug voice sounded in front of me.

“Don’t count on it.” The familiar voice of Ivankov sounded from where Dragon’s voice had come from a moment before. “Death Wink!” There was a blast nearby followed by the shrieking of gale force winds, I heard Sakazuki go flying and felt myself being pulled away from Garp in the strong winds.

As I was wrenched away, I heard dozens of voices shouting at once. There was gunfire and canon fire everywhere. Strong arms encircled me and I smelled a familiar scent, Ivankov!

“Iva-chan!” I cried before another contraction took hold and I let out a soft cry of pain.

“Lily?” Ivankov sounded worried as he cradled me in his arms, “what’s wrong?”

“It’s Luffy.” I winced as I hugged my stomach with my arms.

“Dragon!” Ivankov yelled out over the roar of voices and gunfire.

It sounded like Dragon had brought quite a few reinforcements to rescue me. I heard him fighting nearby. The marines had more men lying in wait along the path Garp and Sakazuki had been taking me down. They’d planned for this.

“Hold on, Lily.” Ivankov held me close and took off at a quick pace away from the fighting. Another stronger contraction took my breath away. I let out a scream of pain. They were getting worse, they were closer together, lasting longer and overlapping now. It hurt so much I wasn’t sure I’d be able to see even if the blindfold had been removed. Ivankov swore under his breath before shouting out again, “she’s not going to make it!”

I could hear Dragon nearby trying to fight his way toward me. Thunder roared over head and gale winds swept around us shielding us from a rain of bullets and canon fire. I could hear explosions all around us as all hell broke loose. The pain intensified and I let out another scream.

“The baby! It’s coming now!” Ivankov yelled.

Dragon swore nearby as he finally reached us. I felt his strong arms encircle me and pull me from Ivankov. He wrenched the blindfold off of me and I winced at the flashes of fire from the fighting all around us. I threw my arms around him and clung to him tightly as I tried to fight through the pain.

He swore under his breath once more, “I need to get her out of here.” He looked to Ivankov who offered me a reassuring smile and a pat on the head.

“Get your precious little bride to safety. We’ll take care of things here.” Ivankov smiled.

Dragon nodded and held me tight before we were swept up in a torrent of winds. We reappeared on a small vessel and strong winds swept around us and flew into the sails propelling the small vessel off at a fast pace. Dragon ducked into the small attached cabin and laid me down on a soft bed. He gently smoothed back my hair and kissed the top of my head trying to keep me calm.

“I need to get you to a doctor, now.” He grimaced.

I reached into my pocket and retrieved another vivre card tucked within and handed it to him. “Marco.” I panted. Another wave of contractions made the edges of my vision turn red. I clung tightly to Dragon’s hand; I was sure I’d broken some fingers with how tightly I was gripping him.

He winced but offered me a warm smile, “it’s alright.” He looked to the card in his hand and shifted the winds to steer us in a different direction. “We’ll get to meet Luffy soon.” He tenderly kissed me on the lips trying to distract me from the pain.

“I can’t wait to hold him.” I said between gasps of pain.

“Just keep thinking about that for a moment, I need to make sure we’re not going to crash into anything.” He placed a kiss to the top of my head, “I’ll be right back.”

I nodded.

A few more contractions later and I thought I was going to pass out, the pain was so intense. I tried my best to hold back my cries of pain. I didn’t want to worry Dragon as he was trying to get us to Marco as quickly as possible. It didn’t even feel like the boat was on the water anymore.

The boat slowed to a stop and Dragon burst into the cabin and lifted me into his arms. Another moment later we were swept up in a flurry of winds and landed atop a familiar deck. We were on The Moby Dick.

“Oy! Where they hell did you come fro-?!” The lookout was surprised to see us.

“I need Marco! Now!” Dragon yelled. He looked exhausted; he’d used his devil fruit ability a lot to get us here.

The lookout looked to me in Dragon’s arms and paled, “Lily!” He yelped before looking to Dragon, “this way! Hurry!” He took off at a run before screaming at the top of his lungs, “COMMANDER MARCO!”

We were led to an infirmary and met by a tired looking Marco. His bright blue eyes widened as he spotted me. “Lily!” He darted forward and caught one of my hands in his just as another painful contraction almost knocked me out. I squeezed his hand tightly and let out another cry of pain.

“Can you two reach any relationship milestones that aren’t stressful?!” He groaned before motioning for Dragon to lay me on one of the infirmary beds.


	16. Chapter 16

~Dragon’s POV~

Lily was resting soundly in the infirmary aboard The Moby Dick. Luffy wouldn’t stop crying, I’d taken him out of the infirmary to walk around the deck trying to give Lily some much needed peace and quiet so she could rest. She had a rough labor from all of the stress from her nearly being captured and us fleeing for our lives.

I bounced the tiny wailing bundle in my arms to no avail. He wouldn’t stop crying. “Please, stop crying.” I groaned down at the tiny screeching bundle.

His tiny face was bright red from his shrieking, there were tears, snot and mucus everywhere. I was tempted to hold him at an arm’s length away so I wouldn’t get drenched but the thought of what Lily would do if she saw me holding our son that way was enough to hold me back. I tried pacing around the deck and pointing out to the sparkling blue waters of the sea. I tried using my devil fruit to make gentle rumbling thunder sounds, that didn’t help. Nothing quieted him. I had no idea what was wrong. I’d tried feeding him a bottle, he didn’t need changed, I had no idea why he wouldn’t stop screaming.

“You look like a mess.” A familiar voice sounded from behind me.

I turned to find the first division commander, Marco, standing behind me. He looked tired from his long night tending to Lily but was still managing a bright smile. “Any tips?” I sighed as Luffy continued shrieking.

“Bring him to Lily.” He pointed with a smile while fighting off a yawn.

“I want her to rest as much as possible.” I frowned. I felt somewhat wounded by his words, was I inadequate? Did my son hate me?

Marco smiled as if he could see my self-doubt. “It’s nothing against you, you’re doing fine. We are all moths, drawn to her flame, you’ve fallen victim to it too. Take him to her. It’ll do you all some good.”

I nodded and made my way to the infirmary. Luffy cried and wailed the whole way. I stepped into the small private room Lily was resting in at the back of the infirmary and winced as she stirred awake once she heard Luffy’s cries. Her bright golden flecked summery green eyes fluttered open and she jolted into an upright position before wincing in pain from the sudden jerking motion.

“What’s wrong? Is Luffy okay?” She tried to scoot out of bed but I held up a hand to stop her.

“Don’t get up.” I grumbled before noticing it was quieter.

Luffy was still crying but his cries had gotten a little softer upon hearing Lily’s voice.

“I think he wanted to hear your voice, keep talking.” I urged her as I continued trying to bounce the crying bundle in my arms.

Lily smiled and settled back onto her bed. “I had the most amazing dream.” She looked to the bundle in my arms with a loving smile. “It was about the most amazing boy in the entire world.” As she spoke Luffy stopped crying as if he were listening to her words. “He’s going to be King of the Pirates someday.”

I moved closer and sat on the edge of her bed, facing her so she could see his now smiling face. I couldn’t help but smile. My heart had never felt so full. I’d never really thought about settling down and having a family before, but now that I had them, I wished to keep them forever and always. My heart hurt as I remembered Lily’s vision, that wasn’t going to be the case. This bliss would be fleeting.

“What did the future King of the Pirates do in your dream?” I asked her with a sigh while trying to fight off the dark thoughts and keep smiling.

Lily grinned, “he broke into Impel Down.”

I paled at this, “what?!”

Lily giggled and Luffy joined her.

“You’re both nutcases, great.” I sighed which only made them laugh harder.

Luffy started to fuss and I handed him over to Lily and smiled as her face lit up. She cradled the tiny bundle in her arms and rocked him gently as she hummed a ridiculous sounding tune. Luffy calmed in an instant and giggled up at her. She added words to her ridiculous song and I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it.

“Ohhhhh, who’s going to be the greatest pirate on the sea? Luffy, Luffy.” She sang as she bounced the tiny bundle (A/N: yep that’s definitely to the tune of Spongebob Squarepants…you’re welcome)

I shook my head and choked on a laugh, “you are by far the most absurd woman.”

Lily giggled and continued with her ridiculous song. Luffy appeared to be having tons of fun and enjoying her silly song as he couldn’t stop smiling and giggling up at her. Once she finished her silly song, she kissed the top of Luffy’s head before she leaned back against the mountain of pillows I’d arranged for her comfort. A big yawn escaped Luffy and he closed his eyes.

I smiled as Lily fought off a yawn of her own. I reached out to steady her as her eyes drifted closed and guided her to lay back comfortably before sweeping a blanket around them. “Thank you for giving me a beautiful family, nutcase.” I breathed as I tenderly swept her hair back. “I love you.”

Her lips pulled into a smile as she snuggled Luffy in her sleep. My heart stuttered in my chest. The thought of anyone taking him away from her pained me. She’d seen it happen, I knew it was coming and I feared it would break her after seeing just how much they loved one another. I could see it in the same goofy expression on his sleeping face, he was so much like her. He’d certainly take the world by storm. I reached out and gently ruffled his small tuft of black as night hair.

“I guess she was right, again.” I smiled at his sleeping face, “you are pretty perfect.”


	17. Chapter 17

**=17+ years later=**

**~Garp’s POV~**

It took me some time to catch up to my grandson and his crew. Despite my best efforts, Lily’s prediction had come true, he’d become a pirate, just like that witch who’d poisoned my son. I’d almost succumbed to her charms and let her get into my head. Lily was charming and deceptively sweet. Her pretty words were like a poison to the mind, twisting and corrupting those she got ahold of. Despite her being a witch, I couldn’t help but love her, she was my daughter-in-law after all. When she wasn’t poisoning the minds of others, she was bright and full of light and could make anyone laugh.

I met up with Luffy and his crew and let slip who his father was. I hadn’t meant to reveal it, but it happened and the damage was done. Sighing I rubbed the back of my head and looked down at my grandson who didn’t appear to be shaken by the news. His crewmates were all staring at him wide eyed.

“I suppose you’ll want to know about your mother as well.” I grumbled gruffly, as lovely and bright as Monkey D Lily was, I could never forgive her for turning my son into the man he was today. She corrupted Dragon and it was her bad blood that made Luffy turn to this deplorable life of piracy.

Luffy shrugged, “Not really. I never really thought about it.” He was as nonchalant and aloof as his mother.

“What?!” The Strawhats shouted in bewilderment.

“I bet she’s terrifying to have given birth to that monster.” The long-nosed sniper with the unruly dark curls, Usopp, squeaked from the window.

Terrifying wasn’t usually the word I’d use to describe Lily, though, she could be quite terrifying when she wanted to be.

“She’s a little eccentric but actually quite nice.” The beautiful young woman with the silken raven hair, Robin, piped up softly causing everyone to turn and stare at her in awe.

“You’ve met Lily?” I asked, astonished.

“When I was very young. I stumbled upon her island.” Robin spoke with a gentle smile as she thought back on a fond memory.

“She has her own island?!” Usopp yelped. I was sure his imagination was running wild and he was picturing some fearsome sea witch ruling over thousands of people.

“Her private island she’s been hiding out on eluding the marines and government alike.” I grumbled bitterly. Though I knew exactly where it was, I promised Dragon I’d never mention her whereabouts so long as she stayed hidden and didn’t cause a stir in the world.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Robin smiled, “It was a marine who led me to her, whether knowingly or not, set my course directly to her front doorstep.”

“What’s she like?” The pretty navigator with the short orange hair, Nami, asked curiously.

“Warm.” Robin smiled fondly. It seemed like she was reminiscing back to the time she’d spent on Lily’s island. I could only imagine all the crazy tales she’d told her about her future. “Honestly she and Luffy aren’t too much different.” Robin laughed.

I fumbled in my jacket inside pocket for a moment before retrieving a worn wanted poster. I unfolded it delicately afraid it would rip apart from the years of it being folded and unfolded. Lily’s bright smile was infectious and I couldn’t help but smile down at her grinning likeness. There was smoke in the background, it had been taken in her younger years when she’d been traveling with Rogers and his crew. A familiar straw hat was atop her head, the red-haired brat had put it on her head while they were fleeing. Nearly everyone else had been panicking and Lily and her valiant red haired knight were laughing in the face of danger. I looked to the hat atop Luffy’s head and extended the poster to him. “Your mother, formerly Youko D Lily, presently Monkey D Lily.”

Luffy hardly gave the poster a look and shrugged his shoulders in reply as the other straw hats swarmed around me to get a look at the poster to see what kind of monster could have given birth to their captain.

“Is she a swordsman?” Zoro asked to see if he was interested in looking at the photo or not.

“Lily’s never really had any use for weapons. She’s strong enough without them.” I replied simply. He shrugged and glanced at the photo.

“She’s beautiful.” Nami gasped seeing a young woman with dazzling gold flecked deep green eyes and long silken black as night hair. Her eyes widened as she spotted the hat atop Lily’s head and she threw a look in Luffy’s direction.

Sanji went to look at the photo and appeared to be about to tell Nami something cheesy like she had nothing to worry about she was still the most beautiful creature to walk the earth but he faltered as he looked at the worn wanted poster, “She’s a goddess!”

“Probably how she turned my son upside down, she made him the criminal he is today.” I sighed, “She’s the reason you wanted to be a pirate. Probably put the idea into your head in the womb.” I tsked. As much as I wanted to hate the eccentric woman, I couldn’t. I had convinced Dragon to let me raise Luffy away from piracy and the marines, hoping Luffy would choose to be a marine on his own without his mother’s influence. Lily was so heartbroken the day I’d separated her from her child. I had never seen such fury or destruction before; I’d hoped Luffy wouldn’t have taken after her so much, when she was angry trying to protect the ones she loved, she was unstoppable.

“She was a pirate?” Luffy asked curiously.

“They called her the Queen of the Pirates.” I sighed, should have known the mention of her being a pirate would pique his interest.

“QUEEN OF THE PIRATES?!” The Strawhats and my men screamed in unison.

Luffy looked to the wanted poster curiously. His eyes lit up as if he’d seen the poster somewhere else before, when he was younger. “I think I’ve seen this picture before.” He commented aloud.

“Probably with that no-good Red Hair.” I said with distaste, “Those two were close.”

“Shanks?!” Luffy grinned.

“Yeah.” I huffed.

“Wow.” Usopp commented, “I wonder if she knows my dad, then.”

“I’m not sure.” I sighed, “The papers ran a story over a decade ago, that she had died, very few people know the truth. The rest of the world thinks she’s dead.”

“Why?” Nami asked in awe.

“To protect her I guess.” I shrugged, “Not that she needs it.” I laughed as I pulled aside my shirt to reveal a wicked scar over my chest, “She nearly killed me when I told her I was going to raise you.” In all my years, I’d never seen anything quite like it, I’d known the girl was strong in her use of haki, but when she struck it was like there were shockwaves behind her hits, it was pure explosive power. She’d destroyed two ships in a single swing, she hadn’t even physically them.

Robin looked to their captain as he took in all the information, not seeming phased by it, “She talks about you nonstop. She’s definitely your biggest fan and was so proud of all you would accomplish.”

“What do you mean, Robin?” Nami pondered, “I thought you only met her once, when you were a child?”

“Lily can see the future.”

“WHAT?!” The Strawhat Pirates yelled in surprise as their jaws hit the floor.

Robin chuckled at this, “She’s quite remarkable, I really hope you all get to meet her someday. I’d love to see her again. I didn’t trust her when I first met her, and I regret that. Everything she told me came true and it’s kept me safe all these years.” A fond smile danced across her lips as she thought back to the crazy woman who’d helped her get back on her feet after her home had been destroyed.

I handed the poster to Luffy, “keep it.”

Luffy accepted the poster and noticed the hat atop her head. He quietly reached up to touch the hat atop his head.

“She traveled with Rogers and his crew in her younger years, she and those two brats he had as cabin boys were inseparable for quite some time. I suppose they were the Queen’s knights.” I scoffed.

Luffy grinned as he realized his mother was close with Shanks who he had always looked up to and admired. He tucked the poster into the band of his hat.


	18. Chapter 18

~Dragon’s POV~

_I promised myself to make more time for Lily. Every 6 months I spent two weeks with her on her island. It was never enough; it would never be enough. Things had changed drastically after my father took Luffy away to raise him. Lily had changed. That radiant light of life and vitality within her, had dulled. She was quiet and withdrawn, always lost in thought, no doubt day dreaming about our son and what life would have been like if she had power over her visions. It had been a few years since I’d seen her smile, not since Luffy was here with her._

_She rarely ate. I feared if she kept this up, she’d wither away to nothing. That beautiful lively girl I’d fallen in love with, was nothing more than a shell of her former self. I’d broken the person I treasured above all else. Nothing I did or said could fix the damage that had already been done. She spent most of her time sleeping, or trying to force herself into having visions of our son. When she wasn’t sleeping, she took walks around the small island to find places to hide and cry alone._

_“No!” Lily suddenly shrieked from the living room where she’d fallen asleep._

_I nearly dropped the blanket in my hands that I’d gone to get to cover her with and sprinted to her side. “Lily? What’s wrong?”_

_She was sitting upright on the couch, breathing heavily and looking distraught as if she’d just had a horrible nightmare. Her dull golden flecked green eyes were filled with tears. “You have to go!”_

_“What? I just got here.” I placed the blanket around her shoulders, she was shivering._

_“Now!” She tried to swat me away, but she didn’t have the strength or energy due to her recent hunger strike._

_“What’s wrong?” I asked her worried._

_“Our son is in danger! You have to save him!” She cried._

_“Luffy?” I panicked._

_“No, the other one!” She choked._

_I stared at her for a moment before remembering once before when she told me Luffy would have two older brothers, who we’d apparently adopted without my knowing. “Alright, please calm down, I don’t want you to get so worked up you make yourself sick.” I placed my hand atop her head. “Where is he?”_

I glanced out across the sparkling clear blue waters surrounding Lily’s small island paradise, though I was sure she saw it as more of a pretty cage. My mind had drifted to the night she’d sent me to find Sabo. Things improved after that, Lily was able to smile and laugh again. I brought Sabo to her often over the years. It did them both good. Sabo needed a mother figure in his life and Lily needed a son to dote on. Though I’d managed to save his life in time, he’d been injured and had lost his memories as a result. He didn’t remember his two brothers and couldn’t share his knowledge of them with Lily as she had hoped he would.

Sabo, now a young man of twenty, leaned over the edge of the railing looking out at the bright crystal-clear waters with a smile. He still hadn’t regained his memories of his brothers though Lily tried to jog them at every turn by casually mentioning Ace and Luffy from her visions of what they were getting up to in the world. It didn’t seem to be helping. He just believed they were stories she made up to entertain him.

I noticed smoke dwindling up through the chimney of her cottage and smiled in anticipation of the feast that would be laid out for us. Though I never gave her notice when I’d be showing up, she was always ready. Part of me wondered if it was because of her ability to see the future or if she heartbreakingly prepared for our arrival every day only to be let down more often than not. I shook my head to rid myself of the horrid thought and prayed she didn’t get her hopes up like that every day.

“Dragon?” Sabo turned his deep blue eyes in my direction. He must have noticed the grimace that had crossed my face at the wretched thought. I looked to the scar covering his left eye, if I’d been even a moment later, it would have been too late to save him all those years ago.

I reached over and ruffled his already wind tousled blonde hair, “we should row to shore before she starts swimming this way.” I smirked and headed across the deck to the small awaiting rowboat to take us to shore.

Sabo followed behind me.

As we rowed to shore Lily stepped out of her small cottage and a bright smile lit up her face as she ran to the beach and waved over at us. Sabo grinned and waved back leaving me to row alone. We reached the beach and Sabo ran to greet her.

“Kaa-chan.” He beamed as he swept her into a big hug that lifted her off her feet.

Lily let out an adorable giggle and hugged the tall youth back. “I have more daring tales of Ace and Luffy to share with you.” She beamed.

Sabo chuckled as he set her on her feet, “more stories?”

Lily smiled, though I could see a flicker of sorrow in her gaze, “what’s wrong? I thought you loved my stories.”

Sabo smiled, “I do and I’ll gladly listen to them, even if they do sometimes seem a bit farfetched, especially this Luffy character, he gets into some crazy shenanigans.”

Lily grinned, “of course he does, because he’s perfect.”

Sabo laughed and headed to the cottage.

Lily turned to me and her smile shifted into a strained, solemn smile. She was trying to force it. Her smiles didn’t seem to last nearly as long anymore and they never quite reached their full brightness. I took a step toward her and pulled her in for a kiss. She kissed me back and relaxed in my arms for a moment before pulling away with pain and sorrow in her now dull eyes.

“I saw our son.” I hoped it would cheer her up.

“I know.” She replied with another strained smile, “we should go or Sabo will worry.”

I reached out and caught her hand in mine. “Lily-.” I needed her to look at me without forcing herself to smile, without trying to hide all of her hurt and pain. I was tired of being pushed away.

“I know what you’re going to say…” she turned to me with a solemn look, “you already know I forgive you…and I’ll always love you.”

“Stop pushing me away.” I squeezed her small hand in mine.

“I’m not pushing you away, Dragon…I just have nothing to say…I’m not who I used to be…when Luffy­-.” She paused unable to finish the thought, “he took a part of me with him…”

I felt my heart clench in my chest. I tightened my grip on her hand and wrenched her toward me before wrapping her petite frame in my arms. “I’m sorry.” I held her close afraid if I let her go, she’d slip away.

“You don’t have to apologize anymore.” She protested.

“You’re my wife, the woman I love more than anything else in this world and I hurt you, I will never stop apologizing.” I kissed the top of her head.

“It needed to happen…if he’d stayed here with me, he’d never have met his brothers, or his friends…” Tears welled in her eyes; it broke my heart to see her like this.

I turned to the only thing that ever truly lifted her spirits, “tell me what our son has been up to lately.” I hugged her close.

Her body shifted slightly as she perked up. “I saw him on Sabaody Archipelago, he punched a Celestial Dragon in the face.” She cheered before giggling. “I’m so proud of him.” She pulled away from me and wrapped her arms around herself.

“Maybe he did it for you.” I smiled.

She beamed at this, “That’s not the case, but I can delude myself into believing it.”

“You’re quite good at delusions, nutcase.” I teased her and felt a moment of relief wash over me, it felt like old times again.

She swatted at me playfully. I smiled to myself and caught her in my arms before slinging her over my shoulder. I delighted in the sound of her cute squeal of protest and the adorable giggles that followed as I carried her to the cottage.

Sabo looked up from the dining table where a grand feast had been laid out. He smiled as he spotted a giggling Lily tossed over my shoulder. “You went overboard again, Kaa-chan.”

“Huh?”

“The feast.” He chuckled.

“Nonsense, I married into a family of bottomless pits, it’s never enough.” Lily pointed causing Sabo to laugh.

I noticed several of Luffy’s favorite foods in the spread of foods on the table and began to worry that my earlier thought may have been accurate, that she was always waiting for us and possibly even him to show up on her doorstep.


	19. Chapter 19

~Ace’s POV~

It was pure chaos, all around me. Pirates and marines were battling head to head neither side refusing to back down. It was my own fault for getting captured, why did they all have to go so far to try and save me? I’d gone off on my own, I messed up and got sloppy. This was my burden to bear, I’d never wanted to drag any of my family down with me. Luffy was at his limit. He struggled so desperately to free me. I didn’t see any way for us to make it out alive. Everything looked pretty bleak. Akainu was closing in on us. I had to keep him away from Luffy!

Luffy stumbled, as he faded in and out of consciousness, no longer able to keep going and I felt my heart drop as Akainu stepped forward. I had to do something, quick. I couldn’t let him kill my little brother. Without thinking I dove in front of Luffy and braced myself for impact. I’d rather die and give him the chance to escape than watch him die in front of me.

As Akainu swung his fist of lava, I felt something brush past me. There was a fleeting moment where I felt as if someone had grabbed me by the shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. The scent of sunshine and daisies wafted in the air around me. What was that?

I turned to look over my shoulder trying to discern what had happened and why I was still standing. Akainu was frozen in stunned silence staring at a cloaked figure that had appeared between us. Who was it? Why were they protecting us?

“Y-you’re supposed to be dead.” Akainu looked visibly shaken.

The cloaked figure looked beyond Akainu, turning their gaze upward to the scaffold we’d just escaped from. “I warned you, Sengoku.” A soft feminine voice sounded from beneath the cloak. “You brought this upon yourselves the moment you threatened my son.”

What?! Who the hell was under that cloak? The figure reached up and untied the strings at the neck of their cloak keeping it securely in place before lifting it away and tossing it to the side. I stared in awe at the woman. She looked young, though I knew she had to be in her late thirties. Her ebony hair was long and fell down her back. She turned her head in my direction and offered me a warm smile. Her eyes were a bright green with subtle hints of gold reminding me of hot summer days.

“It’s alright, Ace. Take Luffy and get to safety.” Her gaze fell to Luffy lying unconscious at my feet. Those bright summery eyes were overflowing with love and warmth as her gaze fell on my younger brother. I managed a look to the scaffold to see Garp’s reaction. Was this Luffy’s mother?

“Ace!” Marco appeared in a burst of blue and gold flames and froze as he spotted the dark-haired woman with the summery golden green eyes. He choked on a gasp, “L-Lily?! You’re alive?!”

“Long time no see, Marco.” The beautiful woman smiled.

Akainu lunged thinking the woman was distracted.

“Watch out!” I called to her only to stare in awe as she spun around, her reflexes were lightning quick. She swung at Akainu. Her fist didn’t make any connection but there was something explosive behind her strike and the Admiral was sent flying.

She turned to me with a smile. “Thank you, Ace.”

“LILY!” Garp roared and I saw something dark penetrate her gaze, a spark of rage. She clenched her fists and swiveled around with a hiss as Garp appeared before us.

“Yours is the last face I want to see Old Man.” Lily snapped.

“Lily-.”

“You took my son from me! And you were going to sit back and watch as he died?! What the hell kind of grandfather are you?!” She raged, “I warned you Old Man.” She roughly poked him in the chest and I stared in awe as Garp grimaced.

“Lily-.”

“I already know what you’re going to say and I don’t want to hear it.” She snapped before turning again and swinging her fist, the explosive energy radiating from her fist caught Admiral Kizaru as he attempted to appear before us and apprehend us. It was as if she knew everyone’s moves before they made them. Her golden green eyes flicked in Marco’s direction. “Protect them.” She motioned to me and the unconscious Luffy in my arms.

Marco still looked a little shaken at her sudden appearance but nodded, “I will… Don’t do anything crazy.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” The woman giggled softly before vanishing from sight, the moment she vanished I saw Garp go flying though she appeared to have held back with him not wishing to cause him any true harm. In the next moment I saw all three admirals converge on a single point thinking they knew where she’d appear only for them all to go flying in a massive explosion of pure force that shook the entire island.

I looked to Marco to find him looking down at my younger brother then back to where the woman disappeared before chuckling softly. “I should have known. No wonder he’s caused such a stir in the world.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and ushered me away from the fighting.

I couldn’t help but look back as we ran, it was pure chaos behind me, there were explosions everywhere and people being sent flying in every direction. Just as we stepped onto the ice leading to the few remaining ships a man stepped onto our path. A man with dark hair and a piercing hawk like gaze, the moment he raised his sword, Lily appeared before him. She caught his wrist in her hand and met his gaze with a terrifying glare.

“Want to rethink that strategy, Hawkeye?” Her sweet voice took on an iciness that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

“So, you’re not a ghost.” Hawkeye smirked, “Just checking.” He relaxed his hold and I watched as Lily released him. The swordsman sheathed his blade and shook his head, “I did not agree to fight the Queen of the Pirates, I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Queen of the Pirates?” I gaped causing Lily to turn to me with a small laugh as if she sensed where my thoughts had gone.

“No relation to the former King of the Pirates, though I did think of him as a father figure, he even gave me away at my wedding.” She smiled at the bittersweet memory.

Marco scoffed at this, “Most stressful wedding I’ve ever attended.”

“It was perfect.” Lily giggled.

Marco rolled his eyes at this. “About as stressful as your labor.”

Lily’s beautiful smile fell, “Sorry, Marco, I don’t have time to reminisce, I have a promise to keep…it won’t be safe for anyone to be near me…for your own good, I suggest you get my sons to safety.”

Marco frowned at this, “Lily what are you going to do?”

Her eyes darkened, “I warned them, twenty years ago, if they tried to harm my son, I would cease to be innocent, and when it comes to my precious child, I will show no mercy…” A shudder ran down her spine and her eyes began to glow a bright magnificent gold.

Marco swore under his breath and tightened his grip on my shoulder before taking to the sky just as an explosion of force erupted from Lily’s body creating a massive crater in the earth and sending everyone within a ten-meter radius of her flying. Her long black as night hair fluttered in the blast and I caught a glimpse of a brand burned between her shoulder blades, the brand of a slave to the Celestial Dragons. She launched herself forward leaving an even deeper crater from where she’d taken off sending broken bits of concrete and rock flying behind her as she barreled forward.

I stared in awe as she appeared to lose herself in the chaos, flitting about swinging her fists rapidly at anything and everything in her way. Her fists never connecting with anything but expelling a powerful burst of exploding force that shattered through armor and weapons alike and sent everything flying away from her.

“This isn’t good.” Marco groaned.

I looked down at my unconscious younger brother. He’d always been such a crybaby and weakling when he was younger. How could he possibly be so weak if his parents were two of the strongest people in the world. His mother would soon lay waste to the entire island, no structure was safe from her explosive power.

“Who is she?” I asked Marco as I watched our comrades flee to stay out of Lily’s path.

“Family.” Marco said simply, “The only female, Oyaji ever extended an invitation to, to join his crew.” He smiled fondly, “Lily’s always been a wild one, she does what she wants, when she wants and there never really seems to be a rhyme or reason behind it. She does everything on a whim.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at this, “Sounds like someone else I know.” I looked down at my unconscious younger brother with a smile.

“Definitely one to watch out for, especially if he ever learns to unlock the secret behind her haki.”

My eyes widened at this, “She’s not using a devil fruit?”

Marco shook his head, “It’s her haki.” His gaze fell away from Lily and grew wide as he looked to the sea. “This just keeps getting crazier.”

I followed his gaze and stared in awe as I spotted a giant ship with a familiar jolly roger, The Red Hair Pirates, captained by the pirate who’d influenced Luffy. Shanks. “What’s he doing here?”

Marco shrugged, “I don’t know but he’s got great timing, he may be the only one capable of stopping Lily.” What did he mean by that?

I looked back to the island to see in the few seconds I’d looked away many buildings had crumbled and marines were screaming and running for their lives. The Admirals were no match for the irate woman. Sengoku had resorted to using his devil fruit ability in an attempt to stop her but appeared to be struggling against her explosive power.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flurry of limbs caught in the blast of someone else’s fight getting propelled toward Lily. Upon further inspection, I realized it was the teal haired man with the bright red nose whose ship I’d stumbled upon shortly after meeting up with Luffy in Alabasta, Captain Buggy.

“Well this should be interesting.” Marco chuckled as Buggy reassembled in mid air and hit the ground a few feet away from Lily.

Her body froze and her eyes returned to normal as she turned to the eccentric man. A brilliant smile lit up her face, “Buggy!”

The teal haired man’s face flushed a bright shade of scarlet as he was caught in a bone crushing hug by the petite woman. “L-L-Lily?!”

She released him from her hold and a look of sorrow crossed her face, “Sorry for deceiving you, Buggy. You took the news harder than anyone…” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his painted cheek, “And for that, I won’t hurt you for trying to harm my son…but don’t do it again, I won’t be forgiving a second time.”

Buggy stared at her with his mouth agape. “Your son? You have a son?!”

Lily beamed, “Mhm. He’s the cutest, sweetest, most adorable perfect being in existence.” She pointed over to Luffy causing Marco to chuckle.

“EH?! That annoying straw hat brat is your son?!” Buggy yelped.

Lily clenched her fists at her sides and her expression darkened.

“Ah! I mean, he’s great…” Buggy laughed nervously.

Lily’s tension and anger washed away and she giggled sweetly, “Isn’t he the greatest?!”

Buggy let out a sigh of relief before smiling at the raven-haired beauty at his side. He said something I couldn’t quite hear and reached forward lifting her hand to his lips and placing a kiss to the back of her hand. It appeared the Queen of the Pirates had many allies amongst multiple crews. There was something bright about her, something light and warm that pulled everyone around her in. Another trait, it seemed, that Luffy had acquired from his mother. As Lily giggled at Buggy, I noticed Akainu make a move to attack her. She didn’t move this time.

As Akainu swung his molten fist at her I felt my heart drop as she didn’t react. There was a loud reverberating clang as Akainu’s molten fist crashed into a thick steel blade. I stared in awe as a familiar man with bright red hair, and three slashed scars covering his left eye blocked the blow that would have felled the raven-haired beauty. It was Red-Haired Shanks.

Marco smirked, “Well with the troublesome trio back together, I think we’re in the clear.” I had so many questions running through my mind but they were clouded by my overwhelming gratitude at everyone who’d come to my rescue and those who valiantly protected my younger brother.

Lily smiled as if she’d known all along Shanks would come to her rescue before leaning in to whisper something to Buggy. His eyes grew wide and his skin turned pale. He didn’t like whatever she’d told him but couldn’t seem to refuse her. He sighed and used his devil fruit ability to separate his legs from his feet so he could fly out of harm’s way. Marco paused as he flew in our direction.

“Hand over the brat.” He sighed as he reached for Luffy.

“Why?” I asked him curiously.

“Lily said so!” Buggy snapped impatiently.

Marco chuckled, “it’ll be fine.”

I reluctantly let him take Luffy from me and watched as he flew toward the sea. What was he doing? As he neared the edge of the ice I saw a yellow submarine emerge from the depths of the sea. How did she know that was going to be there? It looked like it belonged to one of the rookies, The Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law. What was he doing here and why did Lily send Luffy to him?

I watched warily as Buggy handed Luffy off before retreating back toward Lily trying to avoid the fighting. Lily glanced over her shoulder back at the yellow submarine as, who I presumed to be, the captain stepped onto the main deck. He was a tall lean man with faintly tanned skin, dark neat facial hair and cold grey eyes. He was wearing spotted jeans a yellow and black shirt with what appeared to be the symbol of their jolly roger on it and a furry snow leopard print hat atop his head. His cold grey eyes widened as he spotted Lily.

Lily smiled. It was a warm affectionate smile, the smile of someone motherly. The Surgeon of Death looked momentarily flustered by her smile and averted his gaze causing her to giggle. She offered him a wave and a wink before turning back to the Admiral’s that had lined up before the trio. Buggy looked frantic and panicked facing the three Admiral’s at Shanks and Lily’s side.

“If you keep fighting, you’ll only suffer more pointless casualties.” Shanks spoke up.

Lily cast a sideways glance in his direction. “Let them fight if they want.” She shrugged before her gaze flicked to Sengoku, “you knew this was coming, I warned you.” Her gaze turned to Garp, “and you.” She clenched her fists at her sides, “you’ve brought this upon yourselves.” Her voice turned dark, “I warned you old fools, if you ever dared to lay a hand on my son, I would cease to be innocent, I would unleash hell upon you and when it comes to protecting those I love, I will show no mercy.” Her petite frame was trembling with rage, her eyes glowing a brilliant gold.

“L-Lily.” Buggy gasped as she prepared to lunge.

Shanks reacted quicker. His arm lashed out quickly striking her in the abdomen with enough force the light faded from her eyes. Her body shuddered and she toppled into Buggy’s outstretched arms.

“Ah! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO YOU DAMN SHANKS?!” Buggy raged as he swept the unconscious Lily into his arms.

“If anyone wishes to continue fighting, we’ll be your opponents.” Shanks spoke as if he hadn’t been interrupted, and his crew joined him on the ice.

Buggy glowered at him before stomping away with Lily in his arms. I saw a softness in his gaze as he looked down at the unconscious Lily. The yellow submarine had made it’s escape with my younger brother and it appeared the war was at an end and we were to be escaping with The Red Hair Pirates.

Marco rubbed the back of his head and let out a sigh, “she’s going to be a nightmare to deal with when she wakes up.”

“Pretty sure I was given a ‘son’ status back there so I think I’ll be safe.” I snickered.

Marco chuckled. “You’re probably the only one.”


	20. Chapter 20

**~Lily’s POV~**

_The World Government released an article announcing my death to the world. I was struck with a vision of a familiar man with a big bright red nose and long teal hair that he currently had pulled back in a ponytail. He was pouring over what appeared to be a treasure map at a tavern with some interesting looking circus performers sitting with him._

_“The Queen of the Pirates is dead!” A man burst into the tavern with a newspaper in his hand._

_Buggy choked on his drink, spilling it across the map, but he didn’t appear to care as his gaze was drawn to the man who’d loudly announced the Queen’s downfall to the tavern. “W-what was that?” He asked as all the color drained from his face._

_“The Queen of the Pirates is dead.” The man repeated with a laugh, “good riddance, to the lot of the-.” He cut off as a gloved hand encircled his neck, it wasn’t attached to anything but was choking the life from the man._

_The newspaper was pulled from his meaty paws by another disembodied gloved hand that flew back to Buggy. He scanned the article, his face growing paler._

_“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing, let him go!” One of the other patrons roared._

_Buggy ignored them as he stared in horror at the article in front of him. Tears welled in his eyes. “…no…it can’t be…”_

_“Captain?” The circus performers tensed as the tavern goers looked as if they were going to turn on them._

_Buggy didn’t seem to be able to hear them as he kept looking at the article, “…not my Lily…” A single tear slipped down his cheek. He gripped the newspaper tightly in his hand and got up without a word, leaving the treasure map on the table. He left the tavern, a broken man._

_His crew scrambled to follow him._

_“Captain, what about the treasure?!” One of them called._

_“What does it matter now…” Buggy mumbled morosely to himself as he choked on another wave of tears, “I only wanted treasure for her…so I could make her a true queen bathed in riches…” He wiped at his eyes smearing his face paint as more tears spilled down his cheeks._

_“Captain?” His crew looked to him worried._

I woke with a start to find myself in an unfamiliar room. From the faint rocking motion, I knew I was on a ship. Memories from the day before spilled into my mind, I’d gone to Marineford. I struggled to remember what had happened and how I lost consciousness. I remembered getting to see my beautiful son, he was safe, with Law. Ace was safe too. A memory of Shanks striking me in the gut crossed my mind as I’d been about to destroy the island.

I clenched my fists as I sat up and glanced around the room. I appeared to be in a messy cabin that smelled heavily of liquor. The bed was comfy and the room was larger than the standard room, I assumed these were Shanks’ quarters. One of the walls was littered with maps and posters. I noticed my wanted poster prominently displayed along with a few of his old crew members from the old days. Luffy’s wanted poster was hung next to mine. It was touching enough I almost forgot I was angry with him for interfering with my plan to wipe out everyone at Marineford for daring to harm my son.

“Where is she, damn Shanks?!” I heard Buggy yell from somewhere outside the door.

I crawled out of bed, smoothed out my loose black dress and headed for the door. It swung open just as I reached for the handle and Buggy and Shanks stepped through the door. Buggy was fuming and looked ready to take a swing at the very aloof and nonchalant Shanks. Their dynamic hadn’t seemed to change a bit.

“L-Lily.” Buggy looked to me with wide eyes.

Remembering my dream and reliving the moment he’d been informed of my false death; I felt my heart clench in my chest. My anger started to dwindle and I managed to offer him a small smile. “Hey, Big Nose.”

His cheeks reddened. “H-Hey.”

I threw my arms around him and gave him a big hug. “Sorry for not letting you know I wasn’t dead sooner.”

“It’s fine. I wasn’t even worried.” He grumbled as he hugged me back, “I knew all along.” He was looking anywhere but at me.

I knew Buggy was just putting on a brave face, I’d relived it in my dream, he’d taken the news harder than anyone else. Shanks smirked as he thought Buggy had successfully quelled my rage. I took a step away from Buggy and turned to Shanks. He smiled and held his arm out to me expecting me to go in for a hug.

I took a step toward him and expelled a blast of haki that sent him flying out the door. Buggy stared at me in awe. I smiled sweetly before stepping out the door. Shanks was half leaning half slumped against the railing opposite the door to his cabin recovering from my blast. There were a handful of men I recognized from visions that were part of his crew standing outside staring at their captain in awe.

I turned and spotted Ace staring wide eyed at Shanks half slumped against the railing of the ship as he recovered from my haki. He turned his dark eyes to me and I smiled and slipped my hand in his before pulling him away from Shanks and his crew.

“How about some breakfast, Ace?” I beamed.

“S-sure.” His gaze flicked back to Shanks.

“Lily, I couldn’t let you wipe them all out.” Shanks sighed as he dusted himself off.

I turned to him, “the only reason you aren’t swimming with the Sea Kings right now, is because I consider you a part of my family and my son admires you a great deal.”

Shanks smiled, “I appreciate it.”

“However, if you get in my way again, I won’t be as forgiving.” I pointed.

Shanks’ smile didn’t waver, “understood, my queen.” He bowed, amusement twinkling in his dark eyes.

I rolled my eyes at this and pulled Ace away. He looked a little bruised from his captivity and escape but I was sure Marco had already seen to him and got anything serious taken care of. Ace trailed after me in silence looking as if he had a million questions. He didn’t get a chance to ask them as I rounded the corner of the cabin and spotted a gaggle of Whitebeard Pirates.

“Why did you get involved, Lily?” Whitebeard’s voice boomed loudly causing a hush to fall on the crowded deck as everyone turned to me.

I smiled, “you, above all others, should understand why.”

Whitebeard glowered at me, he appeared to be in pretty bad shape, he was heavily bandaged and Marco was sticking close to his side. “The world thought you were dead, for your safety. You just revealed to all of your enemies that you’re alive!” he roared angrily, “you know I wouldn’t let any harm come to your son.”

My smile fell, and my voice darkened, “yet harm did come to my son, to two of my sons.”

Ace looked over at me curiously.

“You and Sabo became sworn brothers to my son,” I sighed as I realized he was looking for an explanation, “even had you not done that, I’d still consider you my son as your parents asked me to be your godmother.”

Ace’s eyes widened, “how did you know about Sabo?”

“Well he does come to family dinner every few months…though it’s more of a family feast at the rate my husband eats…a trait Luffy got from him…” I smiled fondly as I thought of my family.

Ace gaped at me. “Sabo…he’s…”

“Alive and well…though he does have a touch of Amnesia…he still can’t remember you two…but I’ve always told him stories about what his brothers were up to in the world.”

Marco sighed, “You’re never any good at explaining your sight to people.” He looked to Ace with a reassuring smile, “Lily can see the future.”

Ace threw his arms around me as tears streamed down his freckled cheeks. It appeared the news Sabo was alive had broken him. I sighed and lightly rubbed his back as he hugged me tight and sobbed against me.

“He’s alive.” Ace choked on another sob.

I looked to Marco for help. He offered me a warm smile, a pat on the head and left us alone. I sighed once more and lightly pat Ace on the back waiting for him to calm down. It took him a moment but he eventually composed himself and released me from his hold.

“Sorr-.” He began but I cut him off with a shake of my head.

“Don’t be.” I smiled and stood on tip toe to wipe away his tears. “You’ll all be reunited soon.”

Ace looked like he might cry again, he was overjoyed by this news. “Really?”

I had a brief glimpse of a vision of Sabo and Dragon looking at a newspaper with a fake article and photograph depicting Ace’s corpse. Sabo broke down and Dragon though seeming composed to anyone else, was panicking and unsure of how to help him. I saw him reach for a Transponder Snail atop his desk and tapped at the portable snail on my wrist.

It flipped open before the call came through. Ace looked to me curious for a moment before the smaller Transponder Snail on my wrist made a noise. I answered before it could finish a ring. Ace jumped at the sound of sobbing coming from the other end.

“Lily, have you seen the news?” Dragon’s voice was tense on the other end.

“Who is that?” Ace asked me curiously.

“Who are you?” Dragon retorted his tone beginning to sound irked, “where’s my wife?!”

I sighed, “don’t be rude to our son.”

“That’s not Luffy’s voice.” Dragon pointed.

“Our other son, dear.”

“Sabo is here and according to the news the other is de-.” Dragon connected the dots mid-sentence and paused, “Lily, where are you?”

Ace froze in awe staring at the portable Transponder Snail with his mouth agape at Dragon’s mention of Sabo being with him.

“On Shanks’ ship…The Red Force or some other equally lame name…” I shrugged.

There was a long pause on the other end. I was hit with another glimpse of a vision, this time of Luffy waking up on an island heavily bandaged and seeing the same newspaper with the false article and doctored photo of Ace’s body.

“Lily…what did you do?” Dragon asked sounding wary, I could tell he was getting frustrated. He was worried about me being off my island and getting caught by one of our many enemies.

“I warned them, Dragon…twenty years ago and those old fools didn’t listen.” I clenched my fists.

“You went to Marineford.” I could hear him rubbing his temples, “are you hurt?”

“Nope.”

“The boys?” He pondered.

We’d gained an audience now. Several of Shanks’ crew, Whitebeard’s crew, and the escaped prisoners had gathered and were staring in awe as they realized I was talking to Dragon. Ace looked to be in a state of shock.

“A little worse for wear, but they’ll be alright.” I smiled.

“Any ideas on getting this one to stop crying?” Dragon mused Sabo was still a sobbing mess in the background and hadn’t heard any of our conversation.

“Just one.” I smiled as I slipped the band of the portable Transponder Snail off my wrist. I reached over and grabbed Ace’s hand before sliding the band onto his wrist.

“What’s that?” Dragon pondered on the other end.

“Leave the room.” I giggled before smiling up at Ace, “I think you two have a lot of catching up to do.” I turned my attention back to the den den mushi, “Sabo, after your talk, I want you to come find me, you have my vivre card, it’ll guide you.” I gave Ace’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “I love you boys.”

Ace was tearing up again. I ushered him off to a room and glared at anyone that tried to follow or listen in. Everyone scattered and left Ace alone to talk with Sabo. As I walked away, I spotted a familiar large head with bright purple hair and intense eyelashes.

“Iva-chan.” I smiled.

He pulled me in for a hug, “not that I’m not happy to see you, Lily-chan, but why are you here and not with Mugiwara-boy?”

I looked in the direction Ace had disappeared, “I needed that to happen, but my little side venture is over. I sent Luffy with someone I trust. He’s a very skilled doctor so I have no doubt he’ll get him patched up good as new physically but he’ll be waking up soon and he’s going to need his mother.” My heart hurt as I thought back on the brief vision, I’d had moments ago. I couldn’t bear to see him in such pain.

Ivankov looked momentarily confused. “Lily-chan, I know you’re amazing but we’re in the middle of the ocean, how are you going to get there?”

My smile turned into a mischievous grin; I had my ways. “Could you make sure Ace gets a piece of my vivre card? You do still have it don’t you?”

He reached into his poofy hair and pulled out a piece of paper, “of course I do.”

“Tell Ace to follow it, it’s time for a family reunion.” I hopped atop the railing of the ship.

Ivankov panicked, “L-Lily! What are you doing?”

I turned to bid farewell to everyone. Shanks and Marco didn’t seem the least bit surprised or worried by my actions. Buggy looked like he was panicking but trying to maintain his cool. His eyes were filled with worry. I blew them all a kiss goodbye and flipped off the railing as I charged up an immense amount of haki focused around my feet. Once I got close to the water’s surface, I expelled the haki and was able to bounce across the water’s surface with ease. I took off at a run, vanishing from the ships sight in the blink of an eye.


	21. Chapter 21

~Lily’s POV~

I ran all the way to Amazon Lily to find Law’s vessel anchored a little bit offshore. The few crewmembers on the landing deck of their strange submersible vessel stared at me in awe as I ran past across the water’s surface. Luffy needed me, I could practically feel his agony, it was threatening to fell me to my knees but I pushed onward, I had to get to him.

I stepped into a lush green forest and felt my heart begin to crumble as I heard Luffy’s agonizing cries. In the distance I spotted Law standing at the edge of a clearing with a frown on his lips and a newspaper in his hand. He appeared to be trying to talk to Luffy but he wasn’t getting through to him. My heart broke at the sound of his pained cries as he’d thought he’d lost another brother all over again.

Law jumped as I appeared a step behind him. I took a deep breath to keep myself from crumbling at Luffy’s cries of pain and heartache. “ohhhh who’s going to be the greatest pirate on the sea? Luffy, Luffy…” I sang the lullaby I used to sing to him when he was an infant.

His crying slowed as I stepped into the clearing. My heart stuttered in my chest and swelled with overwhelming love, joy and heartache as I saw my son. He was all grown up now. His body was covered head to toe in bandages, blood was seeping through in some spots and there were tears and snot streaking down his face. He shakily looked up as I stepped into the clearing singing the silly lullaby I’d made up for him.

His eyes grew wide. “…Kaa-chan…”

My heart swelled and tears immediately began to stream down my cheeks as I ran to him with my arms wide open. Luffy knew who I was! I caught him in my arms and hugged him close being careful not to squeeze him too tightly.

“I’ve missed you, my precious boy, my Luffy.” I choked on a sob.

He slowly wrapped his arms around me, struggling to process all that had happened. “…Kaa-chan, why are you here?” He asked in awe. “You’re supposed to be hiding, for your protection.” He said in a daze.

“It was time to come out of hiding, my sons needed me.” I gently smoothed his hair back, he’d stopped crying, he looked composed but still confused.

“Ace?” His voice cracked as if saying his name hurt him. I saw his gaze drift to a tear-soaked newspaper.

“Is not the first person in our family to have their death falsely reported.” I said softly.

Luffy froze, “…he’s alive?”

“Both of your brothers are, and they’ll be joining us soon.” I cooed to him softly as I rubbed his back.

Tears welled in his eyes, tears of joy and relief. He squeezed me tightly and wailed against me. He sobbed against me for nearly an hour before he finally succumbed to the pain of his recovering injuries and collapsed unconscious in my arms. I eased him to the soft plush grass and sat in the grass so I could rest his head atop my leg. Gently I streamed my fingers through his silken dark hair and quietly hummed his lullaby.

Law slowly approached, “if the idiot would stop reopening his wounds, he’d heal a lot faster.” He grumbled.

“Law, I care for you a great deal, but you had better watch how you speak about my son.” I offered him a cool smile.

Law paused. He looked momentarily wary but soon a soft faint ghost of a smile spread across his face. “He clearly gets it from you.”

I smiled. “Thank you for taking care of him.”

“Not like you gave me much of a choice.” He grumbled.

I worked my fingers through Luffy’s hair being careful not to wake my son as I untangled his mop of black as night hair. “Why else would you have been there?” I smiled.

“Curiosity.” He shrugged.

“How is he?” I asked softly as I looked down at Luffy’s unconscious form. The straw hat he treasured so much was lying a little way away, I picked it up and gently lay it atop his chest. He reached one of his hands up to grip it, hugging it against him in his sleep.

“Rough…but if he can keep from reopening his wounds, he should make a full recovery…though you knew that already, didn’t you?”

“You are an amazing doctor, why else do you think I would have entrusted my precious son to you?” I smiled as Luffy caught one of my hands with his free hand and squeezed it tight in his sleep. He used to hold my fingers when he’d sleep as an infant. My heart swelled in my chest.

Law was quiet. I heard him make his retreat and chuckled softly to myself, he was as stubborn as ever and still trying to push me away. Softly, I sang Luffy’s lullaby and watched over him as he rested. We stayed like that for a few hours. All the wildlife of the island kept their distance seeming to give us privacy.

Luffy stirred awake, his dark eyes slowly fluttered open. He looked up at me in awe, as if he’d thought he’d dreamed up the whole thing. “…Kaa-chan?”

“I’m here, keep resting.” I cooed.

He glanced down to the straw hat he was hugging slightly against him, “you were wearing this in your poster…”

“Hm?” I thought for a moment, “oh, yes one of my old wanted posters.” I thought back on the day the photo had been taken and smiled fondly at the memory, “it was a fun day.”

His eyes lit up a little and he looked up at me, giddy to hear more.

“Shall I tell you about it?” I asked him.

He grinned and nodded.

“I was traveling with Captain Roger and his crew, as I often did in my youth…”

_Canons boomed all around us, fire burned everywhere and thick black plumes of smoke drifted toward the sky. The marines had caught up with us as we’d been docked at an island. Captain Roger had some business with a local doctor, though none of the crew knew for what and were treating it as a mini vacation. Upon seeing us, the marines opened fire. We’d managed to get the civilians to safety and out of the range of the canons, but now we were surrounded and Captain Roger was missing. We were with the lesser experienced of the crew who were all in a panic and scrambling to flee._

_Shanks had lost his hat several times already and was getting frustrated as he was too focused on keeping his treasured hat from getting blown away to be of much help. Buggy was trying to shield me from the approaching marines while shaking in his boots. Shanks was starting to look a little worried as some of the crew were getting more worried with our situation._

_I smiled and looked to my valiant knights with a smile, “let’s play a game!”_

_“H-Huh?!” Buggy yelped._

_Shanks looked to me curiously. “What kind of game?”_

_“Flee the marines!” I giggled._

_“That’s what we’re doing!” One of the other crewmembers yelled._

_“Well sure, but if we treat it like a game it will be a lot more fun.” I giggled._

_Shanks smiled and placed his hat atop my head, “I’m in.”_

_I grinned and turned to Buggy, “how about it, Big Nose?”_

_Buggy’s cheeks reddened, “sure, whatever, we’re all going to die, but yeah, let’s have fun…”_

_I couldn’t help but giggle at this. Shanks chuckled._

_We all took off running, half the crew was still in a panic and screaming in terror, Shanks and I were laughing and Buggy was doing some weird combination of screaming and laughing that ended up sounding hilarious._

Luffy grinned as I finished reminiscing. “That sounds awesome.”

“No more awesome than some of your grand adventures, and some still that have yet to come.” I smiled down at him.

Luffy looked momentarily confused before it seemed he remembered something, “ah, that’s right, Kaa-chan can see the future.” He beamed.

My heart swelled once more, “that’s right.” I smoothed his hair back affectionately.

“Kaa-chan?”

“Yes?”

“If you can see the future…what are we having for dinner? I’m starving.” Luffy asked sincerely.

I burst into a fit of laughter. Of course, my sweet perfect boy when faced with a being who could see the future would ask about food instead of all his great deeds to come. Tears welled in my eyes as I laughed uncontrollably. Luffy was confused but soon joined in my laughter. His laughter as infectious as my own. As we laughed, I caught a glimpse of a pretty woman with long silken black hair bringing a feast of food out into the wilderness.

“It appears we’ll be having a feast.” I smiled and described the things I’d seen.

Luffy’s stomach let out a loud grumble, “will there be meat?”

“Of course, there will be.” I laughed and looked up as I sensed someone approaching.

“Luffy, I heard you were awake and I’ve brought you foo-.” A feminine voice sounded from the forest and cut off as a beautiful woman with long silken black as night hair stepped into our clearing. Her bright blue eyes fell on me and grew wide. “…it’s you…” she gasped and her cheeks flushed pink, “The woman who brought Luffy into this world. Kaa-sama.” She gushed.

“Hancock!” Luffy beamed brightly, oblivious to her gushing, “did you say food?!”

Hancock’s face reddened even more and she let out a soft girlish squeal, “he called me Hancock again, that’s ten times, we must be married.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at this, the poor girl was a little delusional but she loved my son very much, and I appreciated that. Luffy was completely oblivious to her lovesick muttering and was happily singing about the food he wanted to stuff in his face.

I smiled and helped him to his feet. With my help he was able to move with ease and we made it back to the shore where Law and his crew were waiting with a feast Hancock had brought with her for Luffy. I spotted a familiar whaleshark fishman and one of the seven warlords of the sea, or formerly one of the seven warlords. I must have passed him without noticing earlier in my haste to get to Luffy.

“Jinbe.” I offered him a polite smile.

He returned my smile with one of his own, “It’s good to see you again, Lily.”

I saw a brief glimpse of Sabo and Ace reuniting on a vessel as they’d both left in search of me. They had a tearful reunion with one another. I smiled as the vision drifted away and looked to Luffy, “your brothers should be here tomorrow.”

“Really?” Luffy asked between mouthfuls of food. He’d somehow gotten away from me and was already halfway through the feast in the amount of time I’d been briefly lost in my vision.

I giggled as I thought of my beloved husband, “you really do have your father’s appetite.”

Luffy looked thoughtful, “what did I get from you?”

“A winning personality.” I smiled.

“You mean insanity.” Law pointed.

“Tenacity.” Jinbe offered.

“Not helping.” I grumbled at them both.


End file.
